NYC Blizzards
by The Original Anon
Summary: Annabeth is moving to New York. After a disaster happens, she's forced to move in with Percy. She and Percy are not quite what you would call jubilant. Set after BoTL, right before winter break. New title; formerly known as Winter Blizzard.
1. Breaking the News

**My first ever long story! Yay! My idea is VERY cliché and overused, I know. But I'll try to make it as wonderful and original as possible. I'll never be as good as some other authors, but then again, I've got quite a few more years ahead of me.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJaTO. I do not own PJaTO. I do not own PJaTO. (I know, I know, I hate writing these as much as you hate them just for being there)**

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Dr. Chase's POV:

I didn't know how to break the news to Annabeth. After moving from Virginia to California, and just settling down, we were going to move back to the east coast of the United States. To NYC, New York.

My wife had suggested to me that we move to New York, seeing as it was closer to Camp Half-Blood and that I had a better offer waiting for me there. I could even take the Sopwith Camel with me. Of course, I had said yes.

Ah, there was Annabeth now, sprawled across her bed, smiling over a picture wistfully. Probably of Camp Half-Blood. I inched forward, and I took a careful look at the framed image.

Annabeth was laughing, and smiling at a handsome, jet black-haired boy, who had his arm around her shoulders and was grinning back at her mischievously. They were sitting beneath a tall pine tree. A satyr, probably Grover, who Annabeth had told me about, had stuck his arm out and made a peace symbol just as the camera's flash went off.

Could that boy possibly be… Percy? I leaned in a bit closer. Yep, it was the one and only Perseus Jackson, all right. He had changed some since when we had last met, but he still had those distinctive green eyes.

I was about to open my mouth and let Annabeth know I was here, but by mistake, my arm hit her lampshade and it made a loud, clear, _clink_.

Annabeth jumped up, startled, letting the picture fall onto her gray bed sheets. When she saw it was me, her face turned bright red. "Oh, uh, Dad! Erm, sorry about that. I was just, uh…" she trailed off.

I raised one eyebrow. "Looking at a picture of camp?" Annabeth looked relieved, and she nodded, her face turning back to its normal color. I decided to get back to doing what my task was: Telling Annabeth about the move.

"Well, Annabeth," I began, rubbing the back of my neck. "You see, your step-mother and I have decided to move to New York, so you can keep in better contact with camp. I got an even better job offer there, and you'll be going to the same school as Percy…"

Annabeth's face lightened up, then darkened. "Uh, yeah, that's great, Dad. So, um, I guess I'd better get packing." She turned away, and half-heartedly dumped one of her jackets into the closest suitcase.

"Annabeth? Is anything wrong?" I asked, slightly worried. Something was bothering her.

"No, nothing, Dad," she said, trying to sound reassuring, but failing. Annabeth mumbled something under her breath that I couldn't hear very well, but I caught two words: Mortal girl. That confused me. What did Annabeth have anything to do with a mortal girl?

I looked over at her disbelievingly, and said, "All right. But if you ever want to talk to me about anything, anything at all, than I'll be in the living room for now." I started to close her door, but then at the last minute, turned back around just to see her gazing back at the picture of her and Percy, looking slightly sad.

I sighed, fully closing her door. She must have gotten into some type of problem with Percy. Annabeth never acted like this. She was tough, and kept all her secret emotions locked in her heart. Apparently, Percy had unlocked more of those feelings than anybody else had.

I turned around on my heel and walked down the hallway to help my wife pack up our clothes.

When I got to the closet, I said, "Jina, there's something wrong with Annabeth." She looked confused, but concerned. "What?"

"I think she's run into some problems at camp," I said.

Jina nodded sympathetically for Annabeth, but then asked, "Exactly what problems?"

"I don't know. All I know it's been more stressful at camp, and the fate of Western Civilization will be determined next year. And something to do with Percy," I added.

"Oh, Percy? You mean that black-haired boy that visited two years ago? Hm, I think I might know what she's worrying about," she said.

"What?" I asked, not caring about the fact that I sounded like a nosy second grader.

My wife shook her head and waggled her index finger. "Oh, Frederick, you honestly don't know? Well, I'll let you figure that one out for yourself." She sauntered out of the closet, leaving me there to rack my brains.

Really, what could Annabeth possibly be worried about?

***

Ms. Jackson's POV:

_Hm… Let's see, eight is already on that line, so it can't be on this square, and it can't be four, either… _I thought, trying to figure out my daily Sudoku puzzle. I sipped from my coffee and finally raised my pen to write in a nine when the phone rang.

I stood up and picked up the phone off the countertop, pressing the talk button as I did so.

"Hello? May I ask who's speaking?" I said.

"Hello, I'm Frederick Chase, Annabeth's father," a voice responded. "And you are…?"

"Sally Jackson, Percy's mother. How nice to meet you, Dr. Chase."

"And you as well. I called you to let you know that we're moving to New York City, due to a generous job offer I've received, and Annabeth will be attending Goode High School with Percy. My wife and I thought you might be interested in knowing this."

"Wonderful!" I smiled widely. "I'll go talk to Percy. Thank you for telling me, Dr. Chase. Goodbye, and have a wonderful morning."

"You too, Sally. Goodbye." I heard a beep, then a long monotone.

"Percy?" I called out. "You're going to be late to the first day of your last week of school before winter break!" Soon, a dark haired figure clad in a long T-shirt and shorts groggily stepped out of a room to my right.

"Mom, it's only five forty-five. I shouldn't have to wake up for another thirty minutes," he groaned.

I smiled fondly and ruffled his hair. "Well, a specific someone just called, and I have good news for you."

An immediate half-smile spread across Percy's face. "Really? What?" he asked curiously.

"Annabeth's father–" I watched as his smile dropped. I continued again. "Annabeth's father just called to let me know that Annabeth's going to be moving to New York, because Dr. Chase has received a better job offer here in Manhattan. Annabeth will also be attending Goode High School, once the new year starts."

Percy's expression was carefully controlled, but his eyes pierced through me, glaring at the other apartment buildings through our window. "That's terrific, Mom. Look, I'll be getting ready for school now." I could tell something was… Different between him and Annabeth.

"Not so fast, Perseus. How long have you and Annabeth been like this? I know that Annabeth is your best friend, and you don't treat her like this." I said. He fidgeted around uncomfortably.

"Um, mom, I don't really feel like saying. Is that okay with you?" Percy lifted his glowering gaze and met my eyes. My heart softened. Deep sea-green. So much like his fathers… Poseidon… I mentally shook my head. I had Paul now, what was I thinking?

"Okay, Percy, but if you ever need to talk about, eh, your little relationship, feel free to come to me anytime," I said knowingly.

Percy turned pink and trudged back to his room to get ready for school. I knew what was going on between those two. I shook my head slowly, and sighed.

I wasn't about to interfere with true love. Much. I secretly smiled a small, contended smile and turned back to my now-cold coffee and unfinished Sudoku puzzle.

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Love it? Hate it? Review please! I won't be motivated enough until I get ten decent reviews. Only constructive criticism or friendly opinions, no 'stupid story', or 'u suck's.

**And the things that they did were just coincidentally alike. I didn't mean for it to be like that. (Ex: They both suggested having a talk with them, Percy and Annabeth both had alike responses…) **

**-Cake (REVIEW. NOW. Or else I won't update.) **


	2. The Dreaded Day

**Note: Every chapter from now on will most likely have both Annabeth's and Percy's POV's, except for a few, like this one.**

**By the way, this is about Annabeth moving, and she's going by airplane. I have no experience from moving from one place to another by airplane, only by car, so if it seems a bit strange than it's because of my experience with these things.**

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Annabeth's POV:

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

_Stupid alarm clock, _I thought as I rolled over onto my side and banged on the off button. I heard a faint sizzle, and the smell of buttermilk pancakes wafted through the crack of my open bedroom door and into my nose. It was a week after my dad told me we were going to move, and today was the dreaded day.

"Annabeth?" My dad poked his head into my room and said, "Wake up, Annabeth. We're going to New York today, remember?" How could I forget? "Bring your suitcase with you; our furniture and things are already being transferred to Manhattan." He came into the room and started to help me tug out my heavy suitcase when he noticed that my picture frame I was looking at last week was face-down, on the floor of my open closet.

"Honey, you're not going to bring that?" he asked. I shook my head bluntly. My dad went over to my closet and picked up the picture, dusting it with his fingers and examining it. He pursed his lips, as though remembering something from when he saw it last week.

"Are you sure, Annabeth?" he questioned. I sighed. "I'm sure, Dad. Let's go eat breakfast, it's already three thirty and our plane is due at seven. I'm hungry." My dad looked skeptical, but walked down the hallway to the kitchen. I just stood there, and slowly picked up the picture, which he had left on the floor. I quickly stuffed it into a pocket of my suitcase and rolled it out of my bedroom.

"Good morning, Jina. The pancakes smell delicious," I complimented, trying to be friendly on a miserable day like today. My step-mother smiled, and dumped about three onto my plate, exactly how many I usually eat. I poured out the glossy, thick syrup onto the top and started eating.

The whole family soon joined me at the table, even Bobby and Matthew, who, despite their sleepiness, were still arguing over who got the syrup anyways. I smiled, slightly amused by their futile attempt to stay awake.

We ate quickly, and after washing it down with some milk/coffee, we lugged the suitcases down to our Volvo, and started the hour drive to the airport.

After we drove about fifteen minutes, Matthew shouted, "Look! Dad! Mom! Annabeth! It's a… What do you call them again, Annabeth? A harpa?" We were in a rural highway, with no buildings around us, which meant there was a higher chance of monsters, and the Mist was thinner, since there were less people. Matthew must have spotted a monster.

I cursed in Ancient Greek. "No, Matthew, it's called a _harpy_. Now everyone stay inside the car. I'll make this quick," I said. Before my dad could stop me, I opened the car door, and brandished my celestial bronze knife, ready to attack the old hag, wherever it was.

There! The little withered woman/dodo bird was getting ready to run out and attack Bobby, who had stuck his head out a little to see what the commotion was about (he had fallen asleep as soon as we had started the car).

I snuck up quietly, but swiftly, and stuck my knife into one of her greasy black wings. She cawed, and disappeared into golden dust. I sheathed my knife and climbed back into the car. My dad smiled at me, seemingly saying, _Good job_. Bobby and Matthew chorused, "Cool!", and Jina just acknowledged me curiously.

Soon, the car started up again, and we drove the rest of the distance to the airport as if that had never happened. My dad parked in a brightly-lit parking lot and we hauled out our suitcases. We made our way into the bright and busy airport, loaded with people.

Bobby, Matthew, and I were left in those little plastic waiting seats in a corner while Jina and my dad were to get our tickets. They considered me responsible enough to keep track of Bobby and Matthew, since I was fifteen, turning sixteen in a little more than half a year.

"Hey, Annabeth!" Bobby said, interrupting my fleeting thoughts.

I turned towards him. "Yes?"

"When we get to New York, are we gonna get to meet Percy?" he asked.

"Yeah, we wanna meet him! And we want him to train us to be able to fight monsters, too, like that nasty harpo!" Matthew chimed in.

I smiled a bit sadly, not bothering to correct him. "Maybe. If you two stop running around and stay on those seats, I might introduce you to him."

They beamed up at me, and said in unison, "We'll be good, we promise!" I grinned. Those two were just so cute.

"There you are, Annabeth!" a female voice called out. My father and step-mother walked over to us, a bit shocked. "My goodness, how on _Earth_ did you get those two to stay still?" Jina asked. I smiled proudly, and just shook my head.

"Well, we better get going. Come on, you two little rascals," my dad said, and Bobby and Matthew jumped up and ran beside him, leaving Jina staying behind with me.

"Um, Annabeth?" Jina asked nervously.

"Yes?" I asked, slightly suspicious.

"Is there anything wrong? I mean, if there isn't, than never mind. If there is, then, well, I could help, if you wanted to," she offered.

"Well, sort of. I mean, um…" What was I doing? I wasn't going to spill anything about Percy to anyone, let alone my step-mother.

"No, it's okay," Jina reassured me. "If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to."

I bit my lip, considering my options. "Well…" I began slowly. "Me, Percy, and two other friends went on a, um, quest. And uh, we kinda needed a mortal's help." I must have sounded slightly disgusted at the word mortal, because Jina looked slightly offended. "A mortal _girl_'s," I said, emphasizing on the girl. My step-mother looked understanding, and she nodded, motioning me to continue.

"And, uh, I kinda got the fact that uh, Percy liked the girl more than me, so um, we kinda got into a few fights about her and this other person named Luke, and so yeah, now our friendship is kinda in shambles," I finished, slightly embarrassed I had poured out all these secrets out to my step-mother.

"Ah, so you were jealous," Jina said. I was about to protest, but she continued, "You know, Annabeth, when Percy visited us when you were kidnapped, he seemed to be very worried about you, and I'll bet he likes you more than that girl."

"Really?" I asked, a bit astounded. Percy was that worried about _me_?

Jina smiled kindly. "Yes, really, Annabeth. Now let's get going, before your father and his two little mischief-makers get too far ahead." I smiled back, and we hurried along forward to catch up with them.

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Okay, same rule. Ten reviews, before I'll update again. This ending slightly sucked, but oh well. It's not like it's the end. This isn't that great of a chapter, by the way, and I know that, so no need to rub it in my face if you think so too.

**-Cake**


	3. Awkwardness

**Note: I have NEVER lived in NYC, and only went there once when I was like, two. -_- So go easy on me, if I get something wrong. If someone guesses what state I lived in most of my life (Not anymore, stalkers! Muahaha!), they get cake! :D**

**By the way, the only apartments I've ever lived in and remember are from China, so I'm basing the apartments in NYC on those. Low, huh? O_o'**

**Heads up, this is going to be a long chapter. :P**

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Percy's POV:

"Mom, do I seriously have to go? I mean, it's not like anyone would miss my being there…" I pleaded.

"Yes, Percy. Annabeth and her family just moved here last week, and they invited _both _of us for dinner at their apartment. It would be rude not to. Now put on some decent-looking clothes," my mom said, pinning her long brown hair up.

I groaned, but changed into a black T-shirt underneath a brown jacket and a pair of faded jeans. I walked out the door with my mom, climbed down a few flights of steps, climbed into her silver Honda Civic **(AN: Did it say what car she had and the color of it in BotL? I don't own that book, and I don't remember)** and started driving.

I glowered out the window at the dark landscape around us, cars zipping by us and car horns beeping at other drivers. After about ten minutes, we reached a plain, brick building and parked in the parking lot.

"Percy? We're here," my mom said. As if I didn't know already. I clambered out of the car and half-slammed the door. My mom shook her head, and looked like she was about to say something, but instead, she walked through the double-doors, leading me in.

We walked into a decent-sized room, with tile floors and bright lights **(AN: God, I'm SO bad at this city/apartment stuff. I live in a suburb, by the way)**. My mom led me over to the elevator, and we went up to the top floor. After turning left and walking past a corner, we stopped at a door.

My mom checked a slip of paper, stuck it inside her purse, and rang the doorbell. The whole time, I was anticipating what Annabeth's reaction would be. My heart thumped against my shirt unsteadily, and I nervously ran my hand through my hair.

I heard a few thumps, like footsteps come towards the door. "Oof!" A louder thump. "Matthew, quit pushing me!" "Hey, you're the one pushing me!" Thump. "Both of you just stop, please! We have guests."

The door opened to reveal a man with sandy blonde hair and intelligent hazel eyes. Dr. Chase.

"Hello, Ms. Jackson. Thank you for joining us for dinner today," Dr. Chase said.

"You're very welcome, Frederick. May we join you inside?" my mom asked.

"Sure you can!" a little voice piped up. A little six, maybe seven, year old popped his black-haired head out and beamed at us.

"Quit hogging the doorway, Bobby!" Another boy who looked just like Bobby shoved his way in. I recognized him as Matthew.

They gaped at me, like I was super-interesting or something.

"Woah, are you Percy Jackson?" one of the asked.

"Uh, yeah, why?" I asked uncertainly.

"Awesome!" they crowed. Bobby and Matthew opened their mouths, as if they were going to ask me a whole bunch of annoying questions when a voice intervened.

"Hey Bobby! Matthew! You better come here now, before I get you!" a girl's voice called out. A fifteen-year old girl came into view, her curly blonde hair brushing past her face and her gray eyes sparkling as she bent down and grabbed Bobby and Matthew. A girl I only knew so well as Annabeth Chase.

"Ah! Annabeth, don't do that!" Bobby/Matthew cried, and ran out of the doorway. Annabeth laughed. My heart did a few leaps before she looked in front of her and noticed me. She looked saddened, and then frustrated as she turned a ninety-degree angle on her heel and walked hastily out of view. I scowled at the floor.

Eager to clear up the uneasy air that Annabeth and I had created, Dr. Chase cleared his throat. "Please, come inside. My wife, Jina, is almost finished preparing the meal."

My mom entered, and I dragged behind her, taking in the apartment.

Boxes were cluttered in some corners, but overall, the furniture was neatly arranged on the decorative rug that was placed over the cherry wood floor. To the right, there was the kitchen, with Annabeth's stepmom putting the finishing touches on some salad and Annabeth, Bobby, and Matthew slumping down on seats crowded around a table.

I carefully stepped over some toy cars and made my way to the kitchen, with my mom and Dr. Chase following in tow.

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Annabeth's POV:

_Stupid Seaweed Brain_, I thought as Percy walked into our brightly-lit kitchen and pulled out a chair. He had wisely chosen the seat farthest from my chair, which he angled in a way so that he wouldn't have to look at me. I took this chance to study him carefully.

His expression had mixed-feelings, but the two emotions that clearly showed out were hurt and anger, frustration reflecting on his eyes, which were usually a bright emerald, but were almost black. He was wearing a loose black T-shirt, and a thick brown jacket hung from one corner of his chair.

My stepmother started chatting with Ms. Jackson, and I spooned out some Caesar salad from a crystal bowl and put it onto my plate. **(AN: I'm Chinese, and I eat dinner differently, so don't blame me if this isn't how you American people eat)** I speared some lettuce a bit too harshly than necessary with my fork and shoved it into my mouth, chewing slowly.

Once I was done with my salad, I gulped down a few sips of water. "May I be excused?" I asked. I saw Percy look slightly less nervous, and his shoulders relaxed, as if I was the one making him anxious to leave, which was probably true.

"Are you sure, Annabeth? You didn't eat much," Jina said, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm sure, Jina. I'm not hungry," I said truthfully. I turned my back on them, but just happened to turn around to look fleetingly at Percy for no reason at all. Big mistake.

His eyes caught mine, and for a second, my stormy gray eyes met his deep sea-green ones. Some sort of spark of electricity coursed through our stare and into me, making me feel warm all over for some reason.

The noise from the table fell quiet; my dad, Jina, and Ms. Jackson dropped their chat to look at us understandingly. Matthew and Bobby were fighting over some ketchup bottle, but even _they_ stopped their argument to stare at us.

I broke our stare and hurriedly grabbed the keys to the apartment from a hook on the wall and left my apartment, grabbing my white fleece coat off of a couch as I did so. I took the elevator down, and left the building. I looked around cautiously for any monsters, and sat down on a cold stone bench when I found none.

I just sat there, cold and shivering, studying the fragments of light from a streetlamp when I was joined by someone, and not just by any someone. A boy. Not just any boy, either. Percy.

"Hey, Wise Girl. What are you doing out here?" he asked, sliding onto the other end of the short bench.

I shrugged, trying to ignore the presence of him sitting just a mere three inches away from me, acting as if nothing from last summer happened. Fingering my scarf, I asked, "So what are _you_ doing here?"

Percy paused, seemingly to be thinking about something, than said, "You looked distressed. I thought I could maybe… Talk with you…?" It ended up as a question, as if asking for my permission.

"Sure," I said, attempting a half-smile. Percy grinned back, white teeth flashing in the dark for a millisecond.

"So… Uh, how's life?" Percy managed dumbly. I giggled despite my moodiness.

"Seaweed Brain, that was the most stupid question. I mean, you were like, 'How's life?' Come on, you can do better than _that_," I protested, laughing. I shoved him in a friendly way.

"Hey, let's see _you_ try and think of something to say at an awkward time like this," Percy retorted in a friendly matter.

"Fine than. So, what's up with you and Rachel?" I asked coolly, crossing my legs.

Percy looked surprised. "What do you mean?" Ah, the ignorance of the great _φύκια εγκέφαλος_ (that meant Seaweed Brain in Greek).

"You don't know what I mean? I meant if you guys were dating," I said in the same cool tone as before.

"Whoa. I don't like her like _that_. Rachel and I aren't dating. End of topic," he said, trying to change the subject abruptly.

"Why not? She's brave, loyal, and _pretty_." I frowned. "A way better friend than me, anyways," I added, muttering.

"Annabeth, I swear. I don't like her. I've only known her for what? Less than a week. I've known you for almost four years. Four years, Wise Girl. Think about that," Percy argued.

I turned my glare up towards the stars, letting what he had told me sink in. We sat in silence for a while, just admiring the twinkling stars.

"Annabeth... About Luke..." Percy began hesitantly.

"Cut the crap, Seaweed Brain. Luke's evil, Luke did this, Luke did that. Just forget him," I said harshly, memories of him with his inhuman, deathly golden eyes, talking in that rough, shudder-worthy voice. Percy stayed silent, looking downwards at the criss-crossing bricks on the pavement.

"Look, we should be getting back," he said. I nodded, and we slowly got up I tripped over some slippery patch on the sidewalk and almost fell flat on the ground, but a strong pair of arms caught my waist and pulled me back up. I looked up just to see Percy, who quickly let go of me, and started walking towards the door. "You coming?"

"Yeah. You can go ahead. I… I'll catch up to you at the apartment. Here, catch." I threw him the keys, which he caught successfully and stuffed into his jacket's pocket. He ran ahead, and disappeared into an elevator.

Taking my time, I walked in and shuffled up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. When I reached my apartment, there was Percy and his mom, getting ready to go.

Percy saw me, and said, "So, uh, bye, Annabeth. I'll see you sometime soon, maybe," he finished awkwardly.

"Yeah. See you, Percy," I said, not meeting his eyes.

Percy waved at me, and I waved back. He and his mom disappeared down the hallway, and we shut our door.

I scowled once he went away. _Seaweed Brain_.

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Okay, a few things:

**In my stories, the chapters usually skip around a bit, so one chapter can be set a few days or a week after another.**

**My ending sucked. I really got major writer's block at the end, and I really couldn't think of anything else.**

**Well, review! I'm not making any threats this time, but I will be VERY happy to get more reviews. Besides, for chapter two, I got thirteen extra reviews, so it doesn't really matter, right? :)**


	4. Blizzard

**Last chapter, the characters were OOC. I know. And all those other mistakes you reviewers noticed, I knew that those were problems too. I just don't have the time to really change them, so yeah. Sorry about that. Okay, end of note. Enjoy. This chapter's all Annabeth's POV, by the way. Percy's will be next chapter.**

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Annabeth's POV:

"For today, December 23, the weather forecast will be cloudy with a high of forty-five and a low of twenty-three. There's a seventy percent chance of snow, folks, so bundle up if you're heading out!" the meteorologist finished cheerfully. "And now back to you, Sean."

Awesome. Snow. There was like, no snow in California, so I was pretty happy to see the fluffy white stuff pop up in the parking lot again, even if there was only a seventy percent chance of that happening.

Jina rushed into the room a little belatedly. "Is there going to be snow today?"

"Seventy percent chance," I answered. Jina pursed her lips, and threw me a few sweaters and a thick coat. "Just in case. Now come on, your father and I are taking the twins out to sightsee, since they've never been to New York before. Do you want to come?"

I shrugged. "Sure, why not?" I stuck my arms through the multiple sweaters and jacket and turned to Jina. "So where are they? Dad and the twins, I mean."

"They're in the car already, waiting. I was about to check online to see the weather, but then I heard the end of the weather forecast and thought I'd just ask you," my stepmother said.

I nodded, and then shoved my feet back into my white sneakers, grabbing my scarf off of the couch and gesturing to the open door. "Let's go."

Jina and I walked out the door and took a right to the elevator. I pressed the button to go down to the first floor, and I heard the little _ding_, and we were there. I hurriedly wrapped my scarf around my neck and followed Jina out the front doors, into our Silver Volvo. **(AN: percabethroxmysox suggested that to me in a review, because of Twilight and all. Thanks. :) )**

"Where to first, Dad?" I asked my dad once we had settled into the car and were driving towards our destination.

"Oh, the Statue of Liberty," my dad answered, not taking his eyes off the road. I silently groaned. I had been there plenty of times. After all, the statue was supposed to represent Athena, made by my famous French half-brother, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi.

"Frederick, there's a seventy percent chance of snow today, so I brought you and the kids some coats. Be careful on the road," she warned, tossing various people their specific clothing.

After driving only ten minutes, a few flakes of white started falling from the sky, attacking our windshield and covering it with little white speckles. Snow.

"Daddy! Mommy! It's snowing!" Matthew cried excitedly. I felt a little excited inside, but I sure wasn't going to start jumping around like a six-year old and yell, 'Snow! Snow! Snow!'

"Daddy, can we go outside and play in the snow?" begged Bobby, already putting on his coat and black mittens hastily.

"No, Bobby. It's barely enough snow to dust our car, let alone New York City. It's too cold outside, anyways. There might be a blizzard coming, and it's dangerous," my dad said sternly.

True to his word, the wind speed picked up and the snow fell faster and heavier, more like icy darts than fluffy flakes. Soon, there were traffic jams galore, and at least a hundred loud beeps started sounding all at once.

"Jina, let's hurry back home, maybe we can make it before we're completely trapped in this blizzard," my dad said, kind of already stating the obvious.

We weaved through traffic and zigzagged past some buildings and reached ours. We carefully stepped into the full-fledged blizzard, and ran inside our heated building.

Ahh… Defrosting. I sighed, rubbing my hands against my arms, warming myself. We were just about to press the button for the elevator when a young man ran out of the staff office and called out, "Sir! Ma'am! Please wait!"

"Yes?" my dad said slightly impatiently.

The young man blew some lengthy brown hair out of his forehead and huffed, trying to catch his breath. "Sir, do you by any chance live on the sixth floor?" he asked.

"Why, yes we do. Exactly why are you asking me?" my dad questioned curiously.

"Uh, you see, sir, the roofing and ceiling of the top floor has been damaged terribly by the blizzard. I'm afraid you'll have to find a hotel, or someplace else to stay until workers have finished repairing the damage. They'll start right after the blizzard calms a bit," the staff worker said, breathless, and winced, as if my dad was going to explode.

My dad sighed. "Jina, we better take the kids and go find a hotel to stay in until this problem is fixed up." My stepmom nodded, and we all walked back outside and into the car.

Dad drove around for about thirty minutes (the traffic was horrific), and we went into several hotels, asking for a room, but all of them were booked. Jina rubbed the bridge of her nose frustratingly, and my dad groaned.

"Annabeth, did you happen to bring your cell phone?" my dad asked me, hope shining in his eyes. He had probably come up with a plan.

I whipped out my cell phone out of my jean's pocket. "Why?"

"Brilliant! Now, dial Percy's number," he said eagerly. I caught on with what he was trying to do, and a million thoughts flew into my head all at once.

"Oh no, Dad, you're not going to ask if we can stay with them, are we?" I asked, horrified. I opened my mouth, about to say that Percy and I didn't exactly get off in good terms since our dinner yesterday, but was interrupted when Bobby and Matthew cried, "Yeah!" and high-fived each other.

My dad just raised his eyebrows and took the phone from my hands. He quickly dialed in ten numbers, and pressed the phone to his ear.

I listened carefully. "Hello?" a boy's voice asked. A lump formed in my throat. I would recognize that voice anywhere.

"This is Frederick Chase. May I speak to Sally Jackson?" my dad said.

"Um, sure," came out of the phone, then I heard him yell out, "Mom! Phone!"

"Hello? Dr. Chase?" it was replaced by a female's voice.

"Sally? We have a slight problem. Our apartment ceiling was damaged in the blizzard, and we can't find a place to stay. May we stay in your apartment for awhile, until our building is done being repaired?" my dad asked uncertainly.

"Of course, Dr. Chase. The only thing is, it might get a little crowded…"

"No, that's fine, Ms. Jackson," my dad put in. "Can you give me your address?" I heard some mumbling on the other line, and my dad scratched it down onto a piece of paper.

"Okay, thank you, Sally. We'll be at your apartment in about fifteen minutes," my dad said. I could tell he was pretty happy he had found someplace to stay.

"What about our clothes, Dad?" I asked.

"I'll try to go back to get them, but if they don't let us in, we'll have to go shopping and buy some new ones," my dad shrugged. End of topic.

"So, are we going to start driving to Percy's building or what?" I asked.

My dad turned on the GPS, inserted the new destination as Percy's apartment building, and we started driving down the frosty road.

During the fifteen minutes we had to drive, I thought about me and Percy's relationship. Not _that_ kind of relationship. Like, you know, friendship and stuff… Oh forget it. Who am I talking to? And what do I get from talking to you anyways?

_Tsk tsk, Annabeth. You should know who I am. I'm your conscience._

Heh. Right. Okay than, _conscience_. Go on.

_You should forgive Percy._

For what? Telling me that Luke was evil, never to be saved? Crushing my hopes?

_You know exactly what I mean. You've– well, we've been friends for almost four long years. Is a stupid argument going to break apart our friendship? No. You're too proud, Annabeth. _

Me? I am _not_ too proud. Well, a little. But hey, it's a characteristic of Athenians. Just to let you know, that argument wasn't stupid.

_Yes it was. Luke's evil, if not gone. And if he's not evil, he betrayed you, Thalia, Camp Half-Blood, Chiron, Hermes, Percy, the gods– shall I go on?_

Fine, I huffed to my own conscience. Jeez, how could my conscience be so annoying?

_And look at Percy. Almost right under your nose, always there for you. Brave. Loyal. Strong. Kind. Caring. He may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's wise. He makes the right decisions. _

And? One of those _right decisions_ was staying on Calypso's little beloved Ogygia for two weeks, I argued right back.

My conscience seemingly sighed in annoyance. _Annabeth, you really don't get it, do you? He could have stayed at Ogygia forever and have given up the prophecy._

Continue.

_But he didn't. Instead, he went back to a demigod's life. And I bet you don't know why he went back, either. Yes, he came back for Grover, Thalia, the gods, his mother, and many more. But the thing he thought most about was _you_._

Me?

At this point, my conscience laughed at my ignorance. _So think about it, Annabeth, will you? Make the right decision. Goodbye, Annabeth. I'll see you some other time._

Alright. Goodbye.

A little part of my soul seemed to be leaving me, and it disappeared. I thought about what my "conscience" had said. I made my decision, and turned back to the frosted glass window of our Volvo, gazing at the little wisps of snow floating down from the cold, dark winter sky.

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Wee! Okay, I'm done with this chapter. I think this one was my best chapter yet. What about you readers? I tried to make this one good, since my last chapter was slightly worse than my usual writing.

**Now you know why I named my story Winter Blizzard, don't you? Yep, it's because of this chapter.**

**So, it's time to review! Press it now! Last time, I didn't even make any threats and I got **_**fifteen **_**extra reviews. Whoa. So pressy now! Press it now! Press it now! Press it now! Okay, I'll stop. REVIEW!**


	5. Moving In with the Seaweed Brain

**Long note:**

**Thanks to Anonymous for always correcting my horrible conventional abilities (you should get an account. You'd be a good beta reader)**

**And note to all super-crazy-fan girls of PERCABETH, (like, I'm talking super-crazy-fans here, who sent me reviews saying, 'More Percabeth!' or whatever, you know who you are), I will not add Percabeth that quickly. It's a total ruin of a carefully thought-out plot, and I'm taking it slowly. And, if you noticed, there's Percabeth in **_**every**_** chapter. You just have to look for it. **

**Okay, rant over. Enjoy!**

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Percy's POV:

"So, anything on the schedule for today, Mom?" I asked my mother, who was fiddling around with her clothes (she had changed five times already, muttering something about "acceptableness") in the living room, where I was surfing through channels on the television.

"Actually, yes. I can't believe I forgot to tell you," she answered, surprised. "Um, dear, Annabeth and her family are going to have to stay with us for a while."

"What?!" I jumped up about five feet into the air. "Annabeth is coming? What? When? Why? _How_?" Uh-oh. _Une_ _Catastrophique__._

"You see, her apartment was on the top floor of her building, and it got heavily damaged by the blizzard, and she'll have to stay with us," my mom finished wearily, combing her hand through her hair.

I groaned, trying to keep my cool. "When's she coming?" I asked.

"Oh, in about seven minutes," my mom said, trying to lighten up the mood. I reclined onto the couch, not saying anything for a long minute.

"You know what, Mom? You don't have to always wear those uncomfortable clothes. They'd accept you whether you were in your pajamas or that itchy-looking skirt," I said, eyeing my mom as she scratched about herself and tried to rearrange her jacket several times.

"Really?" my mom asked skeptically.

"Yeah, really, Mom, so you just go on and change while I can stay here and answer the door bell when I have to," I said, half-pushing her out of the room.

"Alright, but if they say anything at all, I'll just change right back–" my mom called out after her.

"Mom. They're staying here for what? A little more than a week? You can't expect to wear those clothes all the time," I said smugly, trying to get my mom out of the room so I could think properly. My mom sighed in defeat and walked back into her room to change for the umpteenth time.

_Ding-Dong_. Looks like I don't have time to think, after all. I called out, "Mom, they're here, I'll get it!" I dragged myself over to the front door, and unlatched the locks, opening up the door.

"Good morning, Percy. I suspect your mother has told you that we're to stay with you…?" Dr. Chase asked. Right behind him was Annabeth's stepmom, towing along Bobby and Matthew, and right next to her… I turned my head so I didn't have to look that far, already knowing who those blonde curls belonged to.

"Yeah, she did. You can come on in. She's kinda… Occupied right now, but she'll be out in a minute–" I was cut off when my mom rushed out from her room, dressed in a long-sleeved turtleneck and black fleece pants.

"I'm sorry about that, Frederick, Jina," my mom said kind of breathlessly. "Bobby! Matthew! How nice to see you again!" My mom grinned as she hugged the twins.

I slunk off into our tiny balcony, watching the cottony clouds drift over the washed-out blue of the morning sky and the sun flash as if it were tired. If suns could yawn, it did just that, beams of light spreading across the sky. I laughed silently, thinking of Apollo.

I switched my attention back inside the apartment, where my mom was helping the Chases settle down and get comfortable.

Matthew and Bobby were arguing over who got the bed, until Dr. Chase said, "That's quite enough, boys. We'll have to all sleep on an inflatable mattress, so only two; maybe three of us can get the bed."

"Aw, Dad!" whined Bobby/Matthew.

"Frederick, you and the family can move into my room. The room is larger, and more comfortable. There's only one of me, and four of you," my mom said reasonably.

"Alright then, Sally, if you're sure," Dr. Chase said. Then, he called out, "Jina! Can you move our things into that large room? No, that one! Thanks, dear."

"Um, Ms. Jackson? Where am I supposed to stay?" a certain fifteen-year old gray-eyed blonde-headed girl asked, shifting her weight from one foot to another.

"Well, you could stay in Percy's room, and he could sleep on the couch–" my mom began, but I stood up and opened up the screen door.

"Moooom," I complained. "Seriously, do I have to?" I crossed my arms over my chest. Somehow, I knew that Annabeth and I still weren't on the greatest of terms, and I didn't want to have anything to do with it.

My mother shot me a sharp look. "Of course, Percy. Annabeth's the guest, after all."

"Fine, Mom," I reluctantly agreed to let Annabeth stay in my room. I gestured to the open door leading into a pale teal-colored room. "Okay, Annabeth, this is my room. Have a nice day, and enjoy the rest of your stay here at Jackson Resort. _Bye_." I whirled around to head back to the balcony when Annabeth grabbed my wrist.

"Percy, do you mind if we talk about some… Things?" she asked hesitantly. I frowned. This was kind of unlike Annabeth. She was head-strong, stubborn, and perserverant. Her emotional guards seemed to be off-duty, seeing how she was now, all weary and tired, seemingly have lost an argument with something.

"Not right now, Annabeth. I… I'm... Thinking," I lied. Yeah, thinking about you and me. "About the prophecy."

"Oh, terrific. Forget it, then," she said exasperatedly. She was about to turn her back on me but I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"You know what? I'll just go," I gave in, running the fingers of my hand through my hair. "Let's go to my room, than."

Annabeth's POV:

I smiled gratefully at him, and he smiled back, a little dubiously. I really wanted him to know that I was sorry, sorry about Luke, Rachel... Pretty much everything. I didn't want our friendship to end, our friendship that had taken years to build.

We walked into his room. It had a few pieces of furniture. Your average bed, average desk, average nightstand, average closet, etc. The only thing that seemed to be out of place was the big mattress laid out in the middle of the room, and my suitcases which Dad had managed to get out of our apartment (it was disastrous).

Percy led me to the end of his bed, where we sat. He removed his hand from my shoulder and started fiddling around with his bedsheets.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked huskily, as if he didn't really want to do this. I ignored that, despite the fact that my proudness wanted to confront him and bonk him on the head.

"A lot of things," I began slowly.

"Well, that doesn't clear up the air much, does it?" Percy said, smirking.

I punched him lightly on his arm, and he grinned mischievously at me. Ah, good old Seaweed Brain. For a moment, he seemed like he was a year ago, unworried and good-natured, but he quickly regained his sarcastic tone and posture again, looking yet again somewhat like Nico.

"To start, I'm sorry about all those rude things I said to Rachel. We could've been really great friends, but I guess I just… I don't know, judged her wrongly?" I said, the sentence ending in a question mark. Percy nodded, telling me to go on.

"Look, you were right about Luke. He can't be saved. He's an evil Kronos supporter. I'm wrong. I… I'm sorry about how I act– what I sai– how I treated you when you told me that," I admitted.

"Annabeth… Maybe he _can_ be saved. We could try, right?" Percy said half-heartedly. Great. Now we were siding with each other, but still on different sides of the argument.

"Seaweed Brain, are you siding with yourself or me? I just agreed with what you said last year, and you start saying all this about me being right? What's up with that?" I said.

"Oh, nothing, besides the fact that we've been pretty awkward friends for a while, Western Civilization's fate is resting on my shoulders, and we're sitting here playing this little game of 'Saving Luke'," he answered sarcastically.

I mumbled, "Such a Seaweed Brain," under my breath.

"Hey!" Percy protested. "It's not like it's illegal to make a joke. Come on, lighten up."

"Look who's talking," I retorted back. "I wouldn't say anything else if I were you." I instantly knew that I had made a huge mistake. Percy's eyes glinted with... Confusion, anger?... Fury?

"Oh yeah? I'm not the one in love with a traitor here!" he said. That did it.

"Huh! You're the one to talk. Didn't you fall for _Calypso_?" I sneered. "She's a good example of a traitor, if any."

"Calypso's different. She's just... The titans are her family, and she..." Percy shook his head. "You know what? Forget it. Screw this."

"Oh, so now you're defending her? I... I can't believe I ever thought you were my best friend!" I said, my proudness getting the better of me. I could see my conscience shaking their head, saying, _Tsk tsk tsk._

Percy looked like he had been slapped. I put my head down in shame and a few traitor tears leaked out of my eyes. It was completely silent for what felt like an hour.

"Wise Girl…" he turned his head towards the door. "I should go now, do some, uh, chores and stuff." He started to get up, but I dragged him back down, feeling extremely sorry for what I said to him.

"Just wait, Percy. I... I'm sorry I said all those things. I didn't mean it, honest. Just one more thing. Did you… Were you trapped on Calypso's island during those two weeks?" I asked, nervously twirling my hair with my finger. Percy froze. "I won't be mad, I swear. Just tell me."

"Yes, I was. Why do you ask?" he asked wearily.

"Did you…" I trailed off, trying to bat off the butterflies forming in my stomach, because I was so nervous, but I needed to know. "Did you really leave Ogygia for me?"

A thousand emotions flew across his tanned features, his green eyes turning from dark to light, from foggy to clear, and vice versa. "Yes," he stated simply. "I did."

I felt warm, happy, and a blindfold had been lifted off my eyes. "Thanks," I said, half-smiling.

Percy raised his eyebrows. "For what? That's what best friends are for, right?" He flashed me a grin, as if saying, _It's alright. _

"Yeah. That's what best friends are for," I echoed thoughtfully.

"So, I'll see you around, Wise Girl. Call me if you're bored," Percy called out as he headed out his door.

I felt relieved, and sagged into Percy's comfy blue sofa. I was finally back on par with Percy. I beamed at my conscience. Maybe this "vacation" wouldn't be so bad after all.

_See, I told you_, a silvery voice said. A translucent, wispy white formation drifted into the room, taking an angelic shape. It winked and disappeared, leaving me to watch Percy as he gazed contentedly out at the late-morning sky.

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Hm… Not as good as the last chapter. But the characters didn't go too OOC, so that's an improvement, right? This talk is way better than the talk in chapter three, anyways.

**REVIEW! :) Please, please, please, please review and tell me your honest opinion on this, not just a 'great story!' I want details. REVIEW! :D**


	6. Procrastinated Shopping

**Okay, I probably won't update for awhile, because of my exams, my piano recital, my orchestra concert, my solo ensembles, and Chinese school. You should know this if you read my story called Boulevard of Broken Dreams.**

**By the way, chapters from now on will be waayyyy longer, due to a request made by (forgotten name here). :) **

**This chapter has a lot of Percabeth. Hopes it makes you people happy (the Percabeth is pretty much indirect, though, so they're not technically doing it on purpose and realizing it, if that makes any sense.)**

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Percy's POV:

_I was in a pitch-black forest, with no source of light except for a faint glow up ahead. I ran towards the glimmer of light. It was Annabeth, wearing one of those white Greek dresses, glowing a slight golden light. She looked stunning, more like a goddess than a half-mortal. _

"_Annabeth!" I yelled her name and she turned around, looking confused. She whirled back around and strode forward at an impossibly quick speed._

"_No! Percy!" Someone, or something yanked my hand. Startled, I did a 180 degree turn. Those hazel eyes looked familiar, and the pale, beautiful face framed by soft brown hair. _

"_Calypso," I breathed in amazement, but looked for Annabeth. The light was getting fainter. She was getting away. I yanked myself forward, running to catch up to Annabeth. The light was stronger, as if she had stopped. Which she had._

_It was the edge of a cliff, the churning ocean viciously throwing itself against the cliff's shelves. Annabeth dived over the edge._

"_No!" I screamed, reaching out for her, but Calypso pulled me back. I then watched in astonishment and horror as Annabeth, right before she hit the icy-cold waves, turned into a snowy owl, and flew away._

"_Annabeth!" I yelled, but I knew that nothing was going to make her come back. _

"_Percy," Calypso said sadly. "She is not going to come back. She is an immortal."_

"Psst! Percy! Wake up! It's ten-thirty!" an urgent voice whispered. I responded with what sounded like, "Arugh, go to Tartarus" and turning around on the couch, pulling the fleece blanket over myself tightly. I was promptly responded with a shove, and I fell to the floor painfully.

"Shoot! What was that for?" I finally opened my eyes and was met by a laughing Annabeth. I felt better, relieved, like the dream had never happened. Then I blushed, remembering the "Tartarus" statement.

"Naw, it's fine. I don't want you to go to Tartarus, either," Annabeth half-smirked, playfully shoving me again and stealing my blanket.

"Hey! You asked for it!" I warned. I whacked her on the head with my pillow, and we laughed, shoving each other around and having a one-sided pillow fight.

"Percy, I was wondering if– Am I interrupting anything?" my mom had come into the living room, only to find Annabeth tackling me down, her face two inches from mine, about to steal my pillow. We got off of each other, faces burning, while my mom's face wore a mischievous smile.

Annabeth was the first to recover. "Uh, sorry about that, Ms. Jackson. You were saying before?"

"Yeah, you were saying?" I echoed, hastily brushing some lint off my shirt.

"Well, as I'm sure both of you two know, tomorrow is Christmas, and we'll be doing some Christmas shopping today," my mom said brightly.

"Joy," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh, be quiet. Come on, have some holiday spirit," Annabeth teased, and nudged my shoulder with her own.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, fine! I'll go change," I grumbled. I trudged into my room and into my closet, picking out a black jacket, gray jeans, a dark blue shirt, and a gray baseball cap. I walked into the kitchen to grab a doughnut or something and saw Bobby and Matthew playing with plastic action figures on the wooden floor. They saw me and jumped up.

"Whoa! Hey, Bobby! We can finally meet Percy Jackson! In person!" Matthew cried in glee. Bobby pushed Matthew out of the way.

"Hi, Percy! I'm Bobby, and that loser over there is Matthew. I think it's awesome that you're Poseidon's son!" Bobby said enthusiastically. Matthew shoved Bobby, and they landed on the floor.

"I'm not a loser! You're the loser, Bobby!" They started wrestling and arguing. Annabeth approached us from my mom's bedroom, dressed in a blue sweater and black pants, her golden hair pulled back by a silver headband.

"Hi guys. What's up?" She turned and saw me. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The deal. Okay, Bobby, Matthew, this is Percy." Annabeth motioned to me.

"Uh, hey," I said to the twins, and then whispered to Annabeth, "What deal? And how do they know so much about me?" At this, she turned slightly pink, but ignored me.

"Is Annabeth your girlfriend, Percy?" Bobby asked innocently, playing around with his little figure.

I flushed and Annabeth did too. "No, Bobby. We're just friends."

"Than how come–" He was interrupted by someone.

"Good morning, Percy, Annabeth," a lilting voice said. I saw Mrs. Chase saunter over to the kitchen.

"Your mother is a very kind and gracious woman, you know, Percy," Mrs. Chase said, smiling.

I nodded. "Yeah, she is," I said thoughtfully.

"So, I promised that I'd help Ms. Jackson prepare some breakfast for you kids. Sound good to you?" Mrs. Chase asked, waving a spatula in the air. My mom hurried into the room, wiping her hands on her green wool pants.

"Thanks, Jina. Morning, Ms. Jackson," Annabeth said politely while Bobby and Matthew struggled to compose their grinning faces. Something was up with them, but I didn't ask.

My mom and Jina cooked up a few omelets, while I just grabbed a few doughnuts (like I said that I would earlier) and stuffed them into my mouth.

After ten minutes, my mother, Jina, Annabeth and I were in my mom's Civic (Dr. Chase took the twins out to sightsee), and we drove off towards the mall.

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Annabeth's POV:

"We'll leave you kids by yourselves while do some shopping," Ms. Jackson said. "Is that all right with you?" Percy and I nodded, and they walked towards the big Christmas tree in the center of the mall, conversing about what to get Paul and my dad, which things were more expensive, etc.

"So, what'd you want to do?" Percy asked uncertainly.

"Let's just look around and see if we find anything we like," I said.

"Fine with me," Percy shrugged. We started window-shopping, looking at clothes and grabbing the occasional sugar-covered pretzel (for Percy, anyways). After about four hours of just wandering around the store and talking, Percy halted to a stop.

"Whoa. They're having a sale on that jacket that I really want at Hollister. Let's go see if I can afford it or not," he said while pulling me towards the store. I looked up at the top of the doorway inconspicuously and my eyes grew wide. Oh no. I yanked Percy back, right before we were about to go in.

"What?" Percy demanded. I pointed upwards at the little plant with waxy white berries dangling from the top of the doorway.

"So, what about it?" he asked, ignorant of what it was.

"Seaweed Brain!" I hissed. "That's mistletoe. Remember the holiday tradition with mistletoe?"

Percy turned a pale shade of red. "Oh. Oh," he said, finally getting it. "Let's get away from there," he advised. I nodded, and just as we walked ten feet away, we heard some screaming coming from nearby.

"Come on, Wise Girl! Let's see what the commotion is about," Percy said, and he ran towards the sound.

As we neared a fountain, I got a clear view of the cause of chaos. A five-headed snake/shark/rhino-sized monster was thrashing around, its rattlesnake-like heads spitting out toxic acid.

"Looks like we're going to have to deal with this one," I said grimly, and Percy nodded. We snuck up on it, our clothes blending in with a window display near the hydra.

I asked a few people who were freaking out whether they had lighters or not **(AN: Remember? Hydra? Fire?),** and believe it or not, one actually did. They handed it to me, and ran out of the area like mad.

"Percy! Catch!" I threw him the lighter. Think, Annabeth, think! My mind worked furiously, trying to think of a plan, but apparently, Percy had a different idea.

"Annabeth! Distract it with your knife!" he yelled. I unsheathed my knife and stabbed the hydra's back. It growled and snapped at me, throwing me a good five feet behind it. Percy took a shaky breath, dipping his hand into the fountain and then using the lighter to light his palm.

"What in Hades are you doing, Seaweed Brain? You're going to get burned!" I screamed. Percy just ignored me, quickly moving his hand in a throwing motion towards the hydra. A little ball of fire caught onto its leathery skin, and it hissed in pain as the fire spread, engulfing the hydra in a brilliant spectrum of fire and light.

Percy caused some water from the fountain to douse to fire, leaving in its midst a neat pile of black dust. He coughed and ran over to me. People watching everywhere applauded, and we blushed, trying to get through the large crowd doing some last-minute Christmas shopping.

"Percy! Annabeth! Are you two alright?" a frantic Ms. Jackson appeared in the crowd, towing behind a very worried Jina.

"Yeah, we're fine, Ms. Jackson," I assured her. She visibly relaxed, but still looked anxious.

"We heard some screaming, and people yelling that two teenagers were fighting off some kind of monster, so of course, we knew that it was you two, and we rushed here to see if you were all right," Jina said.

"Yes, we're all right, and it was Percy did most of it. I just stabbed it," I said modestly.

"Nah, you distracted it so I could work my plan," Percy said to me, than turned to his mom. "It's no big deal, Mom. Seriously, just relax." I could see that he was hiding something. Ms. Jackson seemed to realize that too, and grabbed Percy's right arm and pulled it out so she could see his hand.

"Oh my gods, Percy! You should have told us about that!" I said, concerned. His hand was raw and red, slightly bleeding in some places.

"I didn't want you guys to worry. And besides, it's nothing," he said, shrugging. Percy winced in pain, but acted like he didn't feel it.

"Nothing?! Look at it, Seaweed Brain," I said, slightly worried. He shrugged again, brushing back a few curls of raven hair peeking out from under his cap.

"Relax, Wise Girl. Any other person would've had their whole hand burned off. Me… Well, I'm different, being Poseidon's son and all," Percy said. I glared at him.

"Still. That was risky," I protested. "But… I guess you were pretty brave, facing the hydra like that. I still think that you take chances too much."

"So? My 'chances' often get us out of messes. Like that time in Mt. St. Helens," Percy argued.

"You could've died in that volcano! You had a, what, five percent chance of living?" I retorted.

"But guess what? Here I am, standing in front of you as a living human being today. I guess I was part of that five percent," Percy said calmly.

I scowled. "Whatever." Percy grinned triumphantly, winning the argument.

"Okay, that's enough, Percy," Ms. Jackson said a bit sharply. "We should get going. Jina and I already picked out everything for Christmas."

"Yeah, sure," I said, eyeing the twenty or so bags that Ms. Jackson and Jina were carrying. We walked out of the store and soon, we were back in Percy's apartment.

Ms. Jackson and Jina dumped all the Christmas decorations and presents on the floor while Percy went to go soak his injured hand in some water and inhale in a few pieces of ambrosia.

"You kids want to help?" Jina asked as she and Percy's mom started hanging up tinsel decorations around the fireplace and counters.

Percy shrugged nonchalantly, coming back from the bathroom, and reached for a large bag sitting by itself in a corner. He was about to look inside it when Ms. Jackson reached over and grabbed the bag.

"Uh, Percy, Jina and I will take care of that bag. You kids just help us hang up some decorations," Ms. Jackson said hurriedly. Percy looked at the innocent-looking bag suspiciously, but ignored it, helping Jina with the tinsel.

"Annabeth, do you mind helping me out in the kitchen?" Ms. Jackson asked.

"No," I replied, and I followed her into the cheerful, yellow-painted kitchen. Percy's mother took out a large bowl from the refrigerator and set it onto the countertop. I peered at the content inside.

"Here, help me make some sugar cookies," Ms. Jackson said.

"Isn't it supposed to be blue?" I blurted out.

Ms. Jackson's eyes glinted with humor. "Well, we don't want to scare your family away, do we?" I shook my head and laughed. After washing my hands at the sink, I took a huge lump of cookie dough out of the bowl and starter breaking it into little pieces for cookies.

"So, uh, Ms. Jackson, what's inside that bag that you told us not to do anything about?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, it's nothing, Annabeth. Just some presents, and… Well, you'll see," she said mysteriously. I said nothing, but continued to break apart pieces of the dough. We worked in silence, preparing a really late lunch/really early dinner.

***

The rest of the day went by smoothly, almost like normal (minus the fact that we had Percy and Ms. Jackson living in the same apartment), until night time.

I rolled around over and over on Percy's bed. I just couldn't sleep. If I did, I knew that I would just be haunted by another nightmare, so I quietly snuck out of his room, wearing my tank top and sweatpants, grabbing a cozy-looking blanket from a chair.

I walked down the hallway and into the living room, where Percy was sleeping. Maybe he wouldn't mind my waking him up so that we could talk.

"Percy!" I hissed, shaking his shoulder. He opened one green eye to see who it was, but he just glared at me and went back to sleep.

"Stupid Seaweed Brain," I muttered as I headed out onto the balcony I had seen Percy at yesterday. I sat in one of the two chairs (it was very crowded) and turned my head towards the night sky. New York City was so polluted, unlike camp, so there were just a few brave stars showing through the hazy night.

"I completely agree. What is mankind even _thinking_ these days?" an exasperated voice said. I jumped and my gaze fell onto a ghost-like person sitting on the other deckchair.

The normal looking part of her had straight, silvery blond hair, a spraying of freckles, and misty gray-blue eyes. The not-so-normal part? She was wearing a long, white robe, her skin was pure white, and she was transparent, her image sometimes flickering in and out of view, with a (you will not believe this) halo hovering over her head.

"Who– Who are you?" I managed, shocked.

The girl smiled. "I'm Annalise, your guardian angel." I was still shocked, and Annalise sighed. "I'm your 'conscience', remember?" I nodded.

"Oh, stupid thing!" she cried as her halo started to float off. She grabbed wildly for it, and yanked it back onto her head.

"Um, excuse me?" I said timidly. Annalise rolled her eyes, and snapped her fingers. Her white robe turned into ripped jeans, a black T-shirt with some random punk rock band's name on it, and black Converse shoes.

"There. Much better. At least I don't look like some angelic geek anymore. I'll probably be the most un-angelic angel you'll ever meet," she said, winking at me. "So, Annie. I've come to help sort out a few things."

"Okay… Like what?" I asked, trying not to think about the fact that my so-called "guardian angel" was sitting right in front of me, acting like she had known me for ages (which she technically had)

"Let's see." Annalise pondered. "Oh yeah. You're confused about your little relationship with Perce." She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back on the chair.

"What?" I said, raising my eyebrow. "What relationship? We're just friends."

"Anne, think about it. Do you seriously think that you two are just friends? Always being there for you. Giving his life for yours. I've got to admit, Peter is one fine-looking angel," Annalise said dreamily, going off topic a little.

"Peter?" I asked sharply.

"Whoops, none of that. Sorry about that, Annabeth. Eh, Peter is Percy's very own guardian angel. Just like I'm yours." Annalise gestured to herself.

"Okay, sure. You were saying about Percy?" I asked.

"Well, you should really think about it. Being in denial isn't going to work out so great for your relationship," Annalise advised. I heard a little beep, and she said, "Oh, drat! Gotta go, Anna. Mother Teresa's calling, letting us know that my five-minute time limit is up. I'm gonna have to get back before I miss 'Christianity and You'."

"Wait! You're going already?" I cried.

"Yep. Toodles! Sorry if I've been no help. I'm practically failing Angels 101. But honestly, think about it. Denial will make it worse! Oh, before I forget. Look up there," Annalise said, pointing up over my head.

"What?" I asked, but she waved and seemed to melt into the night. I looked up over my head. A sprig of mistletoe. And in a corner, the big bag that Percy wasn't supposed to touch. Empty.

I opened up the screen door and went back inside the warm apartment, taking note of the mistletoe.

**

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My endings always suck. -_- Well, review! What are you waiting for?

**Before I forget… I changed the second halves of Chapter Three and Chapter Five a little, so that the characters are more in canon, and so that they're slightly longer.**

**Review! Review! Review! Remember, I have my exams, so I won't update so much, so make it up by reviewing! (That made no sense. Whatever, just review!) **


	7. A White Christmas

**I had some free time on my hands, and this is what I came up with. :P Merry extremely belated Christmas, everyone (Jkjkjk! xD)**

**The entire chapter is Annabeth's POV. **

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Annabeth's POV:

I woke up lazily, yawning and stretching. I took a quick glance at the blue alarm clock (Seven o' clock) and went down the hallway to the living room to go wake up Percy.

He looked so peaceful and relaxed for once, I almost felt bad for waking him up. Almost. I yanked his pillow out from under his head and said, "Wake up, Seaweed Brain. It's Christmas, remember?"

Percy snatched his pillow back and stuffed it over his head. "Leave me alone," he said in a muffled voice.

I sighed. "Honestly, Seaweed Brain. Do I have to shove you onto the floor again?" That got him up. I smirked. Must've hurt when I did it yesterday.

He glared at me. "What the Hades, Annabeth? Quit waking me up! It's too early to be up."

I sat at the empty spot at the end of the couch and said smugly, "It's never too early to be up on Christmas." I turned around and yelled down the hallway, "Right, Bobby, Matthew?" The two twins came rushing out of the large bedroom.

"We didn't do anything," they said, eyes wide and innocent.

I snorted. "Psh. Yeah right. Like the fact that two of the presents are missing from under the tree, the two that happen to have tags that say 'To Bobby' and 'To Matthew'?" I pointed to the bottom of the plastic Christmas tree, at the empty space that clearly showed out.

"Aw, you're no fun, Annabeth," Matthew whined. Bobby pouted childishly, and they returned their messed-up gifts back under the tree, in a discreet place.

Percy sat up straight and scooted over next to me. He elbowed me and said playfully, "If I did that, would you make me put it back too?"

"No duh, Seaweed Brain. Besides, what's a fifteen-year old guy like you sneaking around and opening presents before you're supposed to?"

"Well, I'm not the normal teenager, am I?" Percy quirked an eyebrow at me.

I rolled my eyes and said, "So if you're not normal, that makes you abnormal, right?" I smirked.

"Hey! Well, you– Uh, let's see, um…" Percy stammered, trying to think of a good comeback.

"Oh, forget it, Seaweed Brain," I said, absentmindedly twirling a curl of blonde hair on my finger, the one with the gray streak. It had almost completely grown out, as did Percy's, but it was still a reminiscence of our painful burden last year.

Percy frowned thoughtfully, also touching the tiny streak of gray on his hair. He shook his head, and his arm dropped to his side, toying around with his blanket.

"Merry Christmas, Percy, Annabeth, _Bobby and Matthew_," Dr. Chase said, yawning as he came into the room.

"Merry Christmas," we all chorused back, the twins hurriedly backing away from the tree.

"So, excited about Christmas?" he asked. The twins and I nodded, while Percy just moved his hand around in a so-so motion.

"Well, as soon as Sally and Jina come in, we'll start opening presents," my dad said cheerfully. Percy attempted a half-smile just for the sake of Christmas spirit, and the twins faked very enthusiastic cheers.

I heard a sharp rapping on the door, and Percy looked into the peephole to see who it was. He looked relieved, and opened the door to let in a tall, not-bad looking guy who reminded me somewhat of Ben Stiller **(AN: Yeah, that's what I think of when I imagine Paul. xD)**. He had gray streaked brown hair and crinkled brown eyes.

"Well, hi there, Percy. Nice outfit you've got on," the man said, commenting on Percy's shorts and long white T-shirt.

Percy waved it off. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, Paul. We're about to open presents, we're just waiting for the gracious ladies of our families to come."

The man, Paul, studied me. "So who is this, Perce? And those two little twins over there?"

"Oh. This is Annabeth, her half-brothers, Bobby and Matthew, and their dad, Dr. Frederick Chase," Percy introduced. "And this is Paul Blofis, my mom's, er, boyfriend."

"This is Annabeth, eh? Nice to finally meet you. Percy's told me just about everything about you," Paul said, and winked at me. He then shook hands and introduced himself to my dad and my half-brothers.

Soon, Jina and Ms. Jackson came in, completely dressed like my dad (Percy, the twins, and I were still in our nightclothes), chatting about the latest Dow Jones and NASDAQ losses in the stock market while they sipped coffee from their mugs.

Ms. Jackson blushed when she saw Paul. "Um, Paul, I'm sure Percy already made introductions with the rest of the Chase's family." Paul nodded. Ms. Jackson introduced Jina to him and explained why we were here.

Paul nodded sympathetically to us. "Must be hard moving in just to find your apartment damaged the next week. So, are you going to open your presents or not? Don't let me interrupt anything. I'm just a visitor." He sat down on the couch and gestured us to go on. Bobby and Matthew started tearing at their presents with fake zeal.

"Um, wow! It's a new DS game!" Bobby said at the same time Matthew said, "Look, it's a new game for my PSP!" They both cracked a sweet smile in unison.

We all laughed. "Matthew, Bobby, it's no use pretending. We know you peeked ahead of time. Tsk tsk. Shame on you two," Jina chided teasingly. Matthew and Bobby broke out in protests, denying the fact that they peeked.

"So, what'd you get, Annabeth?" Percy asked. I peered down into the crinkly paper in my bag decorated with snowflakes.

"An iPod Touch," I said, satisfied with my present. I brought out the little package and started messing around with the top.

"Aw, that's no fair," Percy complained. "I don't have a cell phone, iPod, or even a laptop or computer, but you do." Paul and Ms. Jackson looked at each other, sharing some type of secret.

"Oh, about that," Ms. Jackson began. "Paul and I bought and delivered you a special gift. You should look out the balcony." She grinned, but I didn't have time to register whether she was up to something or not. She seemed to be explaining something to Paul in hushed tones, Paul every once and a while nodding understandingly.

Percy rushed to the balcony with me lingering behind him, curious. He opened the door, stepped outside, and looked directly down.

"_Oh my gods. This is NOT happening._ You guys didn't seriously have to get me _a car_," Percy said in sheer delight, grinning like crazy. What?! Percy got a car?! I looked outside the window, and sure enough, there was a dark blue, two-door Mazda convertible with its top down sparkling in the pale winter sun.

"Well, we couldn't exactly afford the Maserati you wanted…" Percy's mom hesitated, but smiled, seeing her son's face.

"Nah, it's fine Mom." Percy assured her. "Thanks, Paul. So... Can I test drive it?"

Ms. Jackson smiled secretively. "Maybe, but first, there's a Christmas tradition you two have to follow." Slowly, her finger traced upwards toward the familiar looking plant with white berries hanging above our heads.

I caught my breath. _Mistletoe_. Percy and I both turned a vibrant shade of red, shaking our heads. I took a peek at what our families and Paul were doing inside.

Ms. Jackson and Paul were smiling at us, encouraging us to go on; the same emotion playing on Jina and my dad's face. Bobby and Matthew giggled girlishly, and ran into the hallway so they wouldn't see.

"Aw, man, do we really have to?" Percy groaned. I didn't say anything, embarrassed to death.

"Yes you do, Perce. After all, where's your Christmas spirit?" Paul said teasingly. Percy muttered something about not having any "Christmas spirit".

"Percy, if you don't do it we'll take back your car," Ms. Jackson said, raising her eyebrows as if we'd dare not to follow tradition.

"That's blackmail!" Percy protested.

"Exactly," Paul said smugly. "That's why you have to do it." Percy turned back towards me, staring at the tiled floor.

"Alright, Wise Girl, let's get this over with," he mumbled and took a step closer to me. I stepped towards him, just enough so that I could feel his warm breath in the cold air. A mere second later, I could feel his lips gently pressing against mine for a brief second or two, then we separated to the two ends of the balcony, looking rather like tomatoes.

Paul whooped and winked at Percy, causing him to glower. Staring at the floor, we went back inside.

Ms. Jackson moved her eyebrows up and down. "I got a picture," she said slyly, waving a slim digital camera up in the air. Percy looked outraged, grabbing for the camera.

"None of that, Perseus, or I'll take away your car," she said. "Besides, it's a good memory for you two."

"So, now can I try a test-drive?" Percy asked, exasperated.

"Percy, you're a fifteen-year old teen with ADHD," Percy's mom said. "Do you seriously think we're going to let you onto the road by yourself?"

"I'll go with him," I voluntarily squeaked. As if things weren't awkward enough already.

Percy looked at me dubiously, cheeks still flushed from being out in the cold air and from the mistletoe incident. "Um, are you sure, Annabeth? I mean, you don't have to," he said.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I replied, still looking behind him instead of his actual face.

"Okay than," Percy said, shrugging. We changed into some decent winter clothes, Percy's mom handed us the keys, and went out of the doorway. It was completely silent as we walked down the stairs and out onto the parking lot. We started walking towards the shiny new car when Percy stopped abruptly in front.

"So, where do you want to go?" he questioned, fumbling around with the little unlock button on the car key with his clumsy gloved fingers. He pressed it, and the car's lights flashed on and off as it unlocked.

"I don't really care. Central park, maybe?" I offered. Percy nodded and he got into the driver's seat, me taking shotgun. He revved up the engine and we slowly started to move backwards out of the parking space.

"Er, Percy? Are you sure you can do this?" I asked. After all, you weren't supposed to be driving until you were sixteen, and if that driver was Percy…

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's not like I'm failing driver's ed or anything," Percy said.

"Seriously? I'd expect a guy like you to have to fail a hundred times before he get's his driver's license," I said playfully. Percy waved his hand around in a 'whatever' motion and we took off onto the road.

He actually drove pretty well, sometimes slowing down on the turns, occasionally swerving a little. **(AN: That's how I drive. xD Naw, I can't really drive, but I've driven an electric-powered boat before, and my dad said it's pretty similar.) **He made a few more turns and we parked on the street next to a huge park.

We got out of the car, shutting the doors as we walked towards the park. "So, uh, what do you want to do? There's not really anything to do, since it's winter and all," Percy said, stuffing his hands in his coat's pockets.

He was right. The park's grass was all pale yellow and dead, while the trees were bare and there were almost no people.

"I don't know. Walk around, I guess," I suggested in a slightly bored tone. Percy shrugged, and we shuffled along the frozen sidewalk, our breaths making little puffs of white appear in the wintry air.

"So, uh, you don't think that they would really take away your car if you didn't… Well, you know, uh, the mistletoe?" I finished clumsily.

"Probably not. Paul's a nice guy, he wouldn't do anything like that, neither would my mom," Percy replied.

"Than why'd you do it anyway?" I questioned, really wanting to know.

Percy looked away uncertainly. "I don't know, I just– Well…" he trailed off. He glanced at me quickly, studying me with his clear green eyes for just a millisecond.

"What?" I asked. I shivered. My sweater, jacket, and heavy overcoat weren't enough to keep me from feeling NYC's bitter winters.

Percy shook his head. "Never mind. So are you cold or something?" he asked.

"No," I lied, teeth chattering. San Francisco's weather was much warmer than this, and I wasn't used to New York's.

"Yeah. Riiiight. You're obviously freezing. Let's go back," Percy said. Just as he said that, snow began to gently float down from the sky.

"Nice," I said. "A White Christmas."

Percy nodded. "Yeah. Hey, watch this," he said. He concentrated for a moment, and the little flakes around our area slowly stopped and hung in midair.

"Neat," I said in fascination. "How'd you do that?" I reached for a few puffs of snow suspended in the air. They instantly melted in my gloves, and the rest started falling again.

Percy shrugged. "I don't know. It's just another one of my special powers, I guess." We stood, not talking, for a long time, watching the whirling breeze blow around the little flakes of icy snow.

A piece of ice landed on my cheek, and the cold stung my whole face. "Ow," I said, wincing as my hand automatically went to my cheek.

"What's wrong?" asked Percy, concerned. The snow landed on his ebony hair, the tiny silver dots crowning his head, sparkling in the sun. He looked… Different, like he was someone else. Like a god. He suddenly shook his head, dusting off the snowflakes.

"Nothing's wrong," I said as I broke out of my trance. "It's just… Let's just go back to your building," I said, stroking my frozen cheek.

"Sure. Come on," Percy said, jogging ahead. I followed after him back towards the car.

"Hey, you mind if I drive?" I asked as we were just about to get in.

"I would say that it's no prob, but you look awfully cold. I'll drive," he said. I decided not to protest; I was turning into an ice cube. Percy turned the engine on and we sped off into the street.

Soon, we reached his apartment we went into the apartment only to be greeted by Paul grinning at us.

"So, how was your date?" he asked. Percy groaned, and I felt my cheeks slightly burn.

"That wasn't a date," Percy protested. I nodded mutely, agreeing with him.

"Okay, then. I'm pretty sure it was, but you guys think whatever you want," Paul raised his eyebrows and starting reading a random newspaper.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Percy replied, but he sounded pretty unsure to me.

"So, uh, Mr. Blofis–" I began.

"No need to call me that, Annabeth. You can call me Paul, just like your rude boyfriend here does," Paul teased, elbowing Percy. We blushed for the umpteenth time today, looking away from each other.

"Um, sure Mr. Bl– I mean Paul. By the way, where'd my family and Ms. Jackson go?" I inquired.

"Oh, they just went to the public ice rink. They're giving out free hockey lessons today for the tots and nobody could resist the offer, so everyone left except me, so I could temporarily take care of you two when you came back," Paul said breezily.

I glanced at Percy, who looked horrified. I had a feeling that Paul wasn't going to let us forget about our little mistletoe incident and our "not-date".

***

"Oh, that was horrible," I groaned as I sagged down on Percy's couch. He nodded wordlessly. The rest of our families had gone to sleep, leaving just us to lounge around Percy's room.

Paul had nagged about our relationship endlessly from the rest of the morning all the way to night time, when we said our goodbyes and he had left. As much as I liked the guy and his humor, he could really annoy you good.

"Yeah. Um, Annabeth? I have to give you something. I was going to give it to you in the morning, but I kinda forgot. So, uh, here," he said, handing me a tiny white box.

I opened it up to find a small silver charm, shaped like an owl **(AN: So cliché. -_-)**. It had a tiny engraving at the bottom reading _Annabeth_ and a miniscule hole punctured at the top so you could thread a necklace's string through it. It was pretty much, well, beautiful.

"Um, if you don't like it, than I could get you something else. I mean, it was my mom's idea and all…" Percy said apologetically, but stopped when he saw me smiling.

"I love it. Thanks, Seaweed Brain," I said sincerely. I took off my camp necklace and redid all the beads and threaded in the owl so that now the owl and the huge college ring hung together in the middle. I hung it back around my neck.

I stepped towards Percy and hugged him. He was a bit startled, but returned the hug.

"Merry Christmas," I said, smiling up at him.

"Merry Christmas," he said, flashing a grin back.

"So, uh, Percy?" I asked, releasing my hold around his back.

"Yeah?" he said, sitting down on his bed.

"You don't mind if I didn't get you anything, right? Because, that car pretty much costs twenty of my iPod Touches and a few fifty charms."

"Nah, it's fine."

And there we stood, watching the snow drift down from the sky from his window on this White Christmas.

**

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**

CrayolaMarkers stole all the awesome, original ideas for her wonderfully brilliant stories. -________- Therefore, I have to copy her

_**sometimes**_**, just to get the story moving along. Like the fact that Paul came in during present time. And the little silver owl thing, but mine is different.**

**When Annabeth called Percy "godly", she meant that he looked different as in sort of powerful and important, not good-looking. Just to clear up the air. (Although I'm pretty sure she _does_ think of him like that. She just won't admit it. :D)**

**You know what to do now. Review, please! (Sorry about my long author notes at the beginning and end of my stories.)**


	8. Another Attempt at a 'Not Date'

**One quick note:**

**Can you please try and review for my other stories? It seems that people only like reading stories with a lot of Percabeth fluff. -_- It makes me very annoyed, so please read some of my other stories and review for them.**

**That's it. Enjoy. Another all Annabeth's POV again. I'll do mostly Percy's next chapter.**

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Annabeth's POV:

I threw on some gloves and a heavy overcoat and walked outside the apartment door, running down the stairs to catch up with my dad.

"So, Dad, where are we going?" I asked as I followed him. After all, dads don't drag you out of the apartment at ten thirty in the morning just to go shopping or something.

"We're just going to check on our apartment to see how much longer it's going to take for the workers to finish repairing our building," he replied, unlocking the car door.

I nodded, and we climbed into the car. My dad backed out of the parking space and we started driving towards our apartment.

The whole time, I was thinking about Percy's deadly prophecy. Would he be able to take it? How could one half-blood seriously have that much power? What if… What if he… Betrayed us? Percy wouldn't do that, would he? I mean, he's not that type of person. But then again, I thought the same for Luke before he went bad.

"We're here, Annabeth," my dad said, nudging me with his shoulder.

I was snapped out of my thoughts. "Wha…?"

"I said, we're here," he repeated, climbing out of the Volvo. I followed suit and we started walking towards the familiar building. We went through the double doors and my dad was about to ring the bell on the counter for assistance when a tired-looking worker came out from the elevator.

"Excuse me, mister? How much longer will it take to finish repairs to the roof?" my dad asked. The worker shook his head, sighing.

"I'm sorry, sir. The amount of damage done is very much, and the structure of the roof is very poor. I am afraid that you'll have to come back in another week or so, maybe January the third," the worker said in a heavily accented voice.

"Alright then. Thank you for telling us," my father said. I could tell that he was slightly disappointed. "Well, Annabeth, looks like we'll be staying with the Jacksons for one more week. That's one Christmas wish we just didn't get granted. I just hope that Sally won't mind."

"I'm sure she won't," I assured him. I felt secretly happy at the fact of staying with Percy for another week. After all, he was my best friend. Who wouldn't feel happy? I mean, it's not like I… What am I even saying?

We got back into the car, drove back to Percy's apartment, and climbed the stairs. I rang the doorbell.

"When can we go back?" Jina asked eagerly as she opened the door to let us in.

"One more week," my dad said. She sighed in disappointment. Ms. Jackson appeared in the doorway.

"What? How much longer?" she asked.

"One week. Two days before school begins. I really hope you don't mind," my stepmother said.

"Oh no, of course not. You're welcome to stay as long as you need," Ms. Jackson said courteously. My dad and Jina both thanked her and we all sat on the unoccupied couches, waiting for the one person who was still asleep to wake up so we could have breakfast.

"Huh? What's happening? Why are you all here?" Percy said sleepily as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Well, Seaweed Brain, we're waiting for one certain person to get up so we can go eat," I said.

"Who? Bobby?" he asked, completely ignorant of the two twins already wide awake, playing around in the kitchen.

I punched his arm. "No. _You_, Seaweed Brain," I said.

"Oh. My bad," he said, sounding as if he didn't really care. Which he probably didn't.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Go and change or something. Hurry up; it's already 10:58, Kelp Face. We'll wait," I said. Percy got up and headed to his room, making a face at me as he walked away. I stuck my tongue out at him when nobody was looking.

"I'll go and make some breakfast. Are you willing to help again, Jina?" Ms. Jackson asked, standing up.

"No problem, Sally. Besides, I'd better make some use out of myself for staying at your place so long," Jina said, following her into the kitchen.

"Hey!" Matthew exclaimed from the kitchen floor. "Dad, Bobby stole my DS again," he whined.

"Did not! Besides, it's our DS, not just yours," Bobby protested. My dad stood up and walked into the kitchen, trying to break up their little argument.

"So, uh, what's for breakfast?" Percy asked. He came out of the hallway, clad in his usual jeans and T-Shirt, shoving a black baseball cap messily over his already disheveled hair.

"Waffles," Ms. Jackson called out of the kitchen. Percy nodded, satisfied. He plopped down next to me on the couch I was sitting on.

"Hey, Annabeth. What's up?" he greeted me. I cracked a smile at his Seaweed-Brain way of talking.

"Hey yourself. And nothing's 'up', as you put it, which means we're left with a normal, boring day spent indoors," I said.

"Well… Maybe not exactly boring," Percy said slowly.

"Oh yeah? Then what's on the schedule for today?" I asked.

"Um… I was thinking, that, well, if you would like to go… I mean, if you want to. You don't have to, of course, but–" he blabbed.

I sighed. "Just spit it out, Seaweed Brain."

"Fine. I was thinking… That maybe you would want to go to the movies together? To make up for last summer. And as friends, of course," he said clumsily.

"Sure, why not? It'll kill some time," I said, shrugging. Although I acted perfectly calm, I was actually feeling happier on the inside. I mean, an afternoon, just hanging out with my best friend, with no interruptions or things to worry about (or so I hoped).

"So, um, what movie?" he asked.

"I was thinking Twilight, even though it's been out for some time," I said.

"Twilight?" Percy asked a little dubiously, with a smirk on his face. "You seriously want to watch that? Aren't you a little too… non-girly to watch something like that?"

"Who said that it was girly? The book's really good," I retorted.

"Isn't the book about some random mortal girl falling in love with some vampire and all that other romantic junk?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, but it's really good. And it has action," I said.

"Still," Percy said, not giving in. I stole his cap and he tried to grab it back, but I just waved it in the air.

"If you don't go and watch Twilight, I won't give this back," I said smugly, holding it out of reach.

"Come on, Annabeth," he complained, trying in vain to grab his cap back but failing every time. "Gods, what is with people and blackmail now?"

"Twilight, or no cap," I said.

"Fine!" he said, giving in. "But I'm betting that I'm not going to like it."

"Percy? Annabeth? Breakfast is ready, if you want anything to eat," Ms. Jackson called to us. Percy snatched his cap out of my hands and rather roughly, jerked it back onto his dark hair.

"Sure. Thanks, Ms. Jackson," I said. Percy and I dragged ourselves over to the kitchen table, sitting ourselves at the two chairs next to each other by the window.

"So, Percy," Ms. Jackson started. Percy groaned, as if he already knew what she was going to say. She ignored that, and restarted. "Percy, if I understood your little conversation right, you're going on another date with Annabeth, right?"

"Mo-om, it is _not_ a date!" Percy protested at the same time I said, "Ms. Jackson, it's not exactly a _date_." His mom just smiled knowingly and I felt my cheeks burn.

"Whatever you say, Perseus. I'm just giving you some advice–" she said.

"Um yeah, Mom. Thanks, but no thanks," he said, turning back to his waffle. It was completely silent for the rest of breakfast.

Percy stood up, mumbled out an excuse and walked away from the table. "Come on, Wise Girl," he said to me. I followed him into the large room my family was staying in. He walked up to an ancient-looking computer and turned it on.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Checking online to see what times they're showing Twilight," he replied, collapsing into a worn leather chair. We waited five minutes for the desktop to show up, and it took a few more minutes to connect to the internet.

"Gods, Seaweed Brain, can't your computer work faster?" I complained. Percy shot me a glare.

"No it cannot. We're not the type of people that are rich enough to afford high-speed internet and a MAC computer," he said. I kept silent, waiting for the show times to pop up.

When they finally did, Percy said, "Okay, so they're showing Twilight at 10:45 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. Which one do you want to go to?" He turned around and looked at me.

"One o' clock is fine," I said.

"Okay then. Right now, it's… 11:30. We've got an hour and a half to go eat lunch and drive there. So, what do you want to do now?" he asked, turning off the computer.

"Well, I…" I said, thinking. I was interrupted when Bobby and Matthew came into the room, fighting with their little action figures.

"Hey, Bobby and Matthew," Percy said. The twins dropped their little figures and tried to look as cute and innocent as possible.

"Hi Percy!" Matthew chirped up cheerfully. "Bobby and I were just wondering if you could show us your awesome sword!" Percy looked at me, amused at the fact that the twins knew so much about him.

"Yeah! Please, please, please?" Bobby begged. "We'll be good! We won't touch it!"

"I would, since you guys couldn't get hurt by it anyways– (I shot Percy a sharp look) but it wouldn't exactly turn out as a sword, you see–" Percy said, getting cut off by Matthew.

"Aw, c'mon, Percy! Pretty please? With whipped cream and a cherry on top?" Matthew begged, doing a pretty puppy-dog face.

"Fine, fine! But I'm warning you, it will most definitely not look like what you two expect," Percy warned, throwing his hands up in defeat. He pulled out Riptide from his pocket and lifted the cap off. To me (and Percy), it looked like a three-foot long celestial bronze sword. Matthew and Bobby were a different story.

"Whoa! Hey Matthew! It's a gun!" Bobby exclaimed.

"No it's not, you idiot! It's a taser!" Matthew argued.

"Gun!"

"Taser!"

"Gun!"

"Okay, you two!" I said, fed up with the six-year olds. "It's a sword. Remember the Mist I told you about?" They nodded in sync. "Well, the Mist covers up the sword so that it looks like a mortal weapon," I said.

"Aw, man! That's not fair. I really wanted to see Percy's cool sword," Matthew whined, pouting in a childish way.

"Yeah," Bobby put in. "Um, but maybe you could teach us how to fight…?"

"With what? You don't have any of those, like, tacky plastic swords or something, do you?" I asked unbelievingly.

"Well, no…" Matthew said, disappointed, but then he brightened up again. "But maybe you and Percy could spar off or something?" Percy and I exchanged a doubtful look.

"Oh, please? Pretty please, with whip–"

"Yeah, yeah, we know. Look, we'll fight, but not so intensely so that one of us is going to actually get hurt. Or create some property damage," Percy muttered. I shot him a disbelieving look.

"You are _such_ a Seaweed Brain," I said, rolling my eyes as I lightly punched him on his shoulder.

"What'd I do?" he demanded. "So come on, let's get this little battle over with."

We didn't actually do anything, just experimentally stabbing the air in front of each other's neck and occasionally rolling our eyes as we blocked a pathetic lunge, but Bobby and Matthew looked entranced.

"Seaweed Brain? Come on, this is the sorriest fight I've ever dealt with. Let's get going to the movies," I said. "You two… Will stay here and do… Well, whatever little boys like you do in their spare time besides annoying their older sister and her best friend, who are temporarily unavailable for you to pester."

"Yeah. What she said. Hey, do you want to grab some lunch at a fast food restaurant or something? We've got the time," Percy suggested.

"Sure, why not?" I said, shrugging. We threw on some jackets, brought along some mortal cash, let our parent/s know that we were going (Percy's mom wouldn't let him drive his car. He wasn't too happy about that), and we left the apartment building, calling over a taxi.

"Where to, kid?" the taxi driver asked gruffly. I studied him closely. He looked familiar, with his blonde hair mostly covered by a hat and smiling blue eyes. He caught me looking at him, and he winked at me and Percy. How strange.

Percy told him our destination, and he started driving into the traffic.

"So, what's up with you two?" the driver asked.

"What do you mean, sir?" Percy asked suspiciously.

"Oh, you know perfectly what I mean, Perseus Jackson. Are you and Annabeth Chase going on a date?" the driver questioned. We blushed, but we soon turned cautious again.

"Who are you? And how do you know our names?" I inquired, ready to pull out my secretively hidden celestial bronze knife at any moment now.

"I think you would know who I am, kiddies," the driver said, turning around to look at us. He smiled a dazzling smile, waiting.

"Lord Apollo," Percy said, finally figuring out who he was.

"That's right. Apollo, god of the sun, music, poetry, and prophecies at your service," Apollo said.

"But… Why are you here?" I asked a bit rudely. Apollo didn't seem to notice; a good thing, too.

"Oh, Aphrodite just asked me to check on you two, see how far along the line you've gotten," Apollo said. Percy's cheeks reddened, as if he remembered something.

"What do you mean?" he asked Apollo (even though I'm sure he already knew perfectly what he meant).

"She wants me to see whether you're still in denial or not, and how far along your relationship you are," Apollo translated.

"We're not in denial for anything," Percy and I said in unison. That got us both blushing.

"Hm. Seems as though you still are. Denying a denial isn't going to help, you know. Oh well, I'm sure you two will figure it out sooner or later," Apollo said. For the rest of the time in the cab, he started spewing out random odes, couplets, and such.

"Ah, here we are. Your destination. Enjoy your date, half-bloods. Best of luck." He winked at us again, letting us out onto a parking lot.

"We're not on a date!" Percy and I exclaimed at the same time, _yet again_ triggering off blushes. Apollo waved at us, reared back the taxi and somehow drove it up into the sky, where it transformed into a sports car and disappeared in a flash of golden light.

"So, um, there's a McDonald's over there," Percy said, pointing across the street. "You want to get some lunch now or something?"

"Sure," I replied, and we waited for the little symbol on the sign to turn green. We walked across the road and went inside the restaurant. I ordered for both of us, and we sat down, waiting for our food.

"You sure you want to watch Twilight? I heard that the comedy Bedtime Stories is pretty good **(AN: It actually is, according to someone I know)**," Percy said, trying to persuade me as he slunk down on the chair across from me.

"I'm sure," I said stubbornly. Percy raised his eyebrow and went over to the counter to get our food. We ate in silence, occasionally making some small talk, but not much. After dumping our trays, we walked out of the building and across the road.

We walked towards the big building, waiting in line. It didn't take too long. Soon, we reached the front of the line.

"Good morning. What movie are you two watching?" the lady asked us, turning her sharp brown eyes on us.

"Twilight, for two adults **(AN: Remember, I think all kids 12 and over are considered adult at the theaters)**," Percy said, digging around in his jean's front pocket for the roll of cash he had stashed in there.

"That'll be fourteen fifty-six with tax," she said. He paid her the amount and she handed us the tickets, letting us in.

We were just at the refreshment counter, after ordering two cokes and a large packet of sour skittles, when someone tapped Percy's shoulder. We whirled around, only to find our old friend, the red-head, holding hands with some guy with brown hair and dark eyes. I felt relieved, for some reason.

"Hey, Percy, Annabeth," she greeted us. "Nice to see you in NYC again, Annabeth. I thought you lived in Frisco."

"She used to, but she moved here because of a job offer for her dad," Percy explained.

"So, are you two on a date or something? That's cool. We could double-date, because I'm going to watch Twilight with Ryan. He's part of our group that helped earn money for the art lessons," Rachel said, gesturing to the dark-haired guy.

"Cool. We're watching Twilight, too, but we're not, um, on a date," Percy said uncomfortably for the third time today.

"Hm. Okay then," Rachel said, looking pointedly at us.

I realized that Percy and I were standing so close that anyone with common sense would think that we were a couple. Of course, he also noticed, and we backed a few inches away from each other.

Ryan, trying to helpfully clear up the awkwardness, said, "Hi, Annabeth. So, uh, I know you, right, Percy?" He brushed some strands of brown hair out of his eyes.

Percy examined him with his green eyes, shifting from him, to Rachel, to me (for a longer moment than the rest, if I might add), and then back to Ryan. "Yeah. You're that guy that's in my fourth period, right?"

"Yeah. Nice meeting you formally," Ryan said. "Let's go inside the theater, there's nothing to do out here." We all walked down the hallway, looking for 21, Twilight. We found it and sat inside, Percy sitting in between me and Rachel. I scowled in the dim glow of the theater lights.

"So, Wise Girl. Anything you want to do while we wait for the movie to start?" Percy asked, leaning down on the armrest that he and I shared. I shrugged, stealing the packet of sour skittles from him and ripping it open. I popped a few into my mouth.

"Come on! We've got thirty minutes before it starts, anyways. And I don't think these love birds over there are going to let us interrupt their little, uh, meeting," Percy said, rolling his eyes and jabbing his thumb at Rachel and Ryan, who were looking into each other's eyes. Ick.

"Erm, I don't know! Just talk about things?" I offered.

"I thought _you_ were the one that came up with all the brilliant ideas," Percy said, shaking his head. I nudged his shoulder playfully, and he nudged right back.

Percy started talking about how school was going so far, and I joined in with him, eager to get rid of some more time. Our talk turned into a full conversation, and it ended up lasting until the lights started dimming and the movie trailers started coming up.

He leaned back down really close to me and whispered, "I'm still betting that I won't like the movie." I ignored him and took a sip from my Coke, watching the exposition of Twilight begin.

Overall, the movie was okay, but not as good as the actual book. Rachel and Ryan had started doing more of that romantic-gushy-love stuff at parts in the movie, which made me and Percy feel extremely uncomfortable.

As we were walking out of the theater, after saying goodbye to the two annoying love birds, Percy complained, "Augh, that was awful."

"The movie or Rachel and Ryan?" I asked.

"Both," he replied, grinning at me.

"Come on, the movie wasn't _that_ bad," I insisted.

"Oh, fine! I'll admit it, it was okay," Percy admitted. "I think that Jasper's better than Edward, though."

"Whatever," I said, hailing a taxi for us to get back to Percy's apartment (Luckily, the driver wasn't Apollo this time).

***

"Hi, kids. How was your 'not-date'?" Ms. Jackson asked as we came into the door.

"Twilight isn't nearly as good as the book," I commented.

"What? Oh, our 'not-date'? Uh, fine, though Twilight was just a waste of time," Percy said.

"It was not!" I argued.

"Hey, you have your own opinion. I have mine," he said to me. "Well, we also saw Rachel and Ryan there," he said to his mom.

"So you double 'not-dated'/dated?" Ms. Jackson asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Sort of," I said, taking off my jacket. She nodded thoughtfully, turning towards her son.

"Are you sure you didn't have any fun at all?" Ms. Jackson asked.

"Okay, okay! Gods, I did enjoy it a little. But only the 'hanging out with my friends' part," Percy admitted.

"Well, I'm glad you two had fun. Annabeth, the rest of your family has gone sightseeing again, so they won't be back for a few hours. I'll be in the kitchen if you two need me," Ms. Jackson said, waving to us.

"So, Annabeth," Percy said, a half-grin tugging on his lips. "What if I said that my mom told me that we could go to camp tomorrow?"

**

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My worst chapter ever. D= Oh well, I have writer's block, so you can't quite blame me. (Dun dun dun dun!) I'm sorry, I know the characters are OOC, but I just felt the need to post this. After all, I'm 12. -_____- -winces as she's bombed with tomatoes and the like-

**Tell me whether I should do all the days till New Year's or just skip around some days and do others. Personally, I like choice two better. It doesn't fill up the whole chapter with meaningless fluff, and it actually has a plot.**

**Remember, Percabeth fluff stories aren't just the only good ones out there. Check out my other stories and review! (Please?) But don't forget to review for this one first!**


	9. Training Sessions and Emeralds

**-Sigh- I guess the 'review for the other stories too' plan didn't work. -_- Sorry I haven't been updating, I have a piano solo, two orchestra concerts, and a solo ensemble, plus, figure skating, regular schoolwork, Chinese homework, and Chinese New Year is tomorrow as of today so I'm busy celebrating that. **

**Sorry about that! I kind of got writer's block (le gasp!), so I'm kind of stuck.**

**All Percy's POV, to make up for the other chapters with Annabeth's POV.**

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Percy's POV:

I woke up on the couch, feeling strangely happy, for some reason. I searched idly through my memory, trying to remember. Oh, right. Camp. I ran a hand through my hair, remembering what my mom had told me.

Flashback

"_Percy, will you come here for a second?" my mom called out to me just as I was about to go leave for my 'not-date' with Annabeth._

"_Yeah, Mom?"_

"_Chiron called. He told me that you two should go over to camp tomorrow at nine o' clock sharp. He hasn't told me the reason for it yet, only mentioning that you two will be training…" she said._

"_Thanks for telling me, Mom," I said. "Can you drive us?"_

"_No problem, dear. Enjoy your afternoon," she said, waving to me dismissively._

End of flashback.

I got washed up, pulled on some random clothes I just grabbed from my closet (Annabeth wasn't in the room, I suspected she had already gotten up and was eating breakfast or something), tried to make my hair look half-decent, and walked into the kitchen, where Annabeth was indeed eating breakfast.

"Morning, Seaweed Brain," she greeted me. She was dressed in a denim jacket over a shirt and sweatpants; curly blonde locks tied back into a side ponytail.

"Ditto," I said, taking a seat across from her.

"So what'd you think Chiron wanted us for?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "My mom said something about training." She nodded, and I got up, making myself a bowl of cold cereal.

"Good morning, kids. How was your night?" my mom asked, yawning as she came into the kitchen. She attempted to tie her hair back as she turned on the coffee machine and poured in some powdered coffee mix.

"Good morning, Ms. Jackson, and to answer your question, good," replied Annabeth, finishing up her doughnut she had dug out of the box from Shipley's.

"That's nice to hear," my mom said, smiling. "How about you, Percy?"

I shrugged. "It was okay." I left my statement hanging, thinking about something.

My mother frowned. "Another nightmare? About Kronos?" I nodded, and Annabeth studied me sympathetically.

"You should really relax some, Seaweed Brain. It's winter break, and we're going to camp in a few minutes," she advised.

"Yeah, maybe," I said, playing around with the little pieces of Cheerios floating around. I put my elbow on the table and laid my head against my hand.

"I'm just trying to help," Annabeth said, frowning. "You don't have to listen to me."

"No, no. It's just that… Well, with the prophecy and all, you'd expect me to be a little nervous, right?" She just made a little "hmph" sound.

"We should be going now, Percy," my mom said, checking the clock. "It's eight twenty, and it takes thirty-five minutes to get there." I finished the rest of my now-soggy cereal and stood up from my seat, tugging on another jacket and gloves as I tugged out my suitcase from my room.

We walked downstairs and out of the building, into the winter chill. My mom unlocked the car and I climbed into the back seat, glad of the warmth. Annabeth sat right next to me, storm-cloud eyes shining at the thought of seeing Chiron again, which just made me smile, seeing her happy.

We drove down the streets for awhile, not really saying anything, though I did occasionally try to bribe my mom into telling us exactly what Chiron had told her.

"Percy, Annabeth, we're here," she said, parking in the middle of what looked like nowhere, though we all knew better.

"Come on, Wise Girl. Thanks Mom," I called out, walking towards Half-Blood hill. Annabeth jogged up to me, cheeks flushed from the cold. We chatted for a few moments, climbing up the hill and passing by Thalia's tree.

The camp looked the same, except the magical borders had apparently let in some snow brought in by Zeus. The cabins were dusted with snow, and a centaur was pacing back and forth about the front of the Big House anxiously.

"Chiron!" I said, waving over to him. His expression looked more relieved, as if I was the answer to everything.

"Percy, child. It's wonderful to see you again. And Annabeth as well," Chiron said, attempting a smile.

"What did you need us for, Chiron?" Annabeth asked, nervously twisting the end of her scarf as pieces of snow fell down delicately into her curls.

"Our numbers have gone down drastically since the battle with Kronos' army last summer. The campers haven't received any training, especially not the new campers. Since our former swordsman left us, we've no choice but to let you two train the others, seeing as you're the best choice among us," Chiron said.

"Can't Clarisse help? Or maybe some other Athena or Ares kids?" I asked.

Chiron shook his head. "No, child. They've all gone home to their mortal families or are currently scouting. They can't help us." He spent the next few minutes telling us various information, like our schedule and such.

"Alright then, Chiron. We'll take it. Thanks for telling us," Annabeth said, and started dragging us away.

"You'll be staying here for five days. Your family already knows, Annabeth, so you don't have to worry," Chiron said as we walked towards our appropriate cabins. We unpacked our suitcases and met each other at the sword arena.

Once we got there, I immediately got tackled down by a huge ball of black fur. "Whoa there, Mrs. O'Leary **(AN: Spelling? Is it Mrs. or Ms.? I don't own BotL, so I don't know)**!" I shouted, holding my arm in front of me as a shield for the dog slobber. Annabeth laughed, looking amused.

"Arf!" Mrs. O'Leary barked, nudging me with her wet nose and letting a soggy training dummy drop from her jaws.

"Um, you want me to go play fetch the dummy?" I guessed. She barked excitedly, wagging her gigantic tail. I looked down at the torn, weather-beaten, and chewed up dummy with my eyebrows raised. "Eh, I'm sorry, girl, but I have to go help campers train for the war and all. I'll play with you later."

Mrs. O'Leary whimpered. I patted her mammoth-sized head cautiously. "It's alright, girl. I'll play with you, promise. Annabeth and I just have some things to take care of first."

At this time, the few demigods in the Demeter cabin came walking up, looking apprehensively at the enormous hellhound. Mrs. O'Leary took this as her cue to leave, and she whined, dragging along the dummy with her as she prowled into the forest.

I turned my gaze to the Demeter cabin. There were six kids, the oldest probably thirteen. "Alright, half-bloods. I'm Percy Jackson, your swordsman for the next five days. Who's up first?" I called. Annabeth seemingly rolled her eyes, but went over to stand next to me.

The oldest one stepped up hesitantly. "I'll go," he said.

"Great. And you are…?" Annabeth asked, already scanning through the rows of swords and daggers, seeing which would fit him the best.

"Jay. Jay Brooks," he said, green eyes shifting from me to Annabeth. I nodded, and Annabeth picked out a sword that she thought was right.

"There. Does it feel unbalanced, or…?" she questioned, picking out a sword for herself.

Jay shook his head, brown hair falling across his forehead. "Nah. It's good, but it feels… Not right, for some reason."

"You might want to change to a dagger later on, but we've got to train you with a sword first. Chiron's orders," I said, uncapping Riptide and hefting it around between my palms, getting the feel of the grip. Annabeth had started talking to another demigod, a newbie by the looks of her.

"Okay, take your ready stance," I commanded, and Jay did so. I started out easy on him at first, then actually putting some real effort into it. This kid was pretty good. I instructed him how to hold the sword, how you could twist the blade around and jab the legs of the opponent, taking them by surprise.

"You've got some real potential, Jay. Try using a dagger next time," I said, nodding encouragingly. He took my advice and used a dagger, jogging over to the corner to try out the dummies.

I turned back to the remaining four kids. "Next!"

This went on until the Demeter cabin was through, and I went to go take a quick shower before going to eat lunch after the conch had sounded.

Annabeth and I didn't have much time to rest, training and practicing in the sword arena. We were already through with two cabins, Demeter and Dionysus. We still had four more to go, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Apollo.

I sat on a bench and took a gulp of water from a water bottle. I felt refreshed, and I wasn't tired so much. I was just about to go take another sip when I heard the familiar clip-clop of hooves.

"Percy!" Grover called out, trying to keep his Rasta cap on in the swirling breeze. He walked over to my side.

"Hey, G-man. What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing much," he said, shrugging. "I'm still trying to restore the wild, and I'm starting on Long Island, so I'll be gone for the rest of the days you and Annabeth are staying here."

"That's great, Grover. The restoring the wild thing, I mean. How's Juniper?" I asked.

Grover brightened up. "She's doing great. I'm thinking of proposing to her in the spring, but I don't know what I should give her as a ring. Do you know any jewels she might like?"

"That's great, G-man! And, uh, me being a guy and all, I don't know that much about jewelry. Try Brookelyn or something. I hear she's still here at camp. I'm doing the Aphrodite campers soon, so you should go later, when I'm done training them," I suggested.

"Oh, thanks, Percy!" he said, happy to find a solution to his problem. Grover stood up to go, but then turned around and said, "Tell Annabeth I said hi, I might not be able to see her today." I nodded, and he clip-clopped out of the arena.

"Um, we're here for sword training," a pretty girl said, twirling around a lock of her amber hair. I looked up at her, standing up and calling Annabeth to come.

"Brookelyn Dale?" Annabeth asked. The girl nodded. Annabeth focused her gaze on me. "I'll take her. You can take the newbie, Josh." I silently agreed, calling up Josh.

"Josh Ramirez?" A ten or eleven year old boy walked up nervously. "You're the newbie, right?" He nodded quickly, looking up at me with slight awe.

"You're _the_ Percy Jackson?" he asked.

I sighed heavily. "Yes, I am _the_ Percy Jackson. Come on, I've got some stuff to teach you."

Josh looked scared. "Is it going to ruin my hair? Because right before my dad took me here, I just got my hair done and everything–"

I raised my eyebrows. This kid was really getting on my nerves. "Maybe. Now come on, I've got to fit you with a sword."

***

It was late afternoon already, and the sun was starting to set. I groaned in exhaustion. Those Hermes campers could _really _annoy you good. The fact that Connor and Travis Stoll were gone and couldn't help keep the younger children in control didn't help much, either.

I sat down next to the lake, dipping my finger into the clear water and watching the fish follow it. My mind began wandering, watching the snow silently fall down continuously.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, sitting next to me.

I smiled slightly. "Hey." I pulled my jacket around myself tighter, wishing it weren't so cold.

"Did you see Grover today?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, I did. He's going to leave camp tomorrow to go 'restore the wild'. He told me that he was thinking of proposing to Juniper, and he says hi," I said.

"He's proposing to Juniper? That's…" Annabeth trailed off.

"Unbelievable, right? But it's great news for him," I said.

"Yeah. It's pretty sweet of him to do something like that," she agreed.

"In fact, he even asked me what type of stone he should get for the ring," I said, still chuckling a little at the thought.

"I know what I would say," she blurted out, gazing up at the ice-blue sky, merging with the pink and orange of evening.

"Really? What?" I asked.

"Well, I like emeralds," she said, not looking at me.

"Why emeralds?" I questioned, wanting to know.

"Because… Oh, never mind," she said, shaking her head and slightly blushing, scowling as if scolding herself. I was about to press on, but I let the subject drop, communicating with a nearby pegasus that was soaring overhead with Brookelyn on her back.

"What's with you lately?" she asked suddenly, looking at me inquisitively.

"What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled as I looked up at her. Her blonde hair was falling loose of her rubber band, and a few curls brushed up against her cheeks, blowing in the wind. _She looked… Pretty_, I thought before I could stop myself.

Annabeth sighed. "You've been all quiet and moody lately, ever since I came to New York. What happened to the Percy I used to know?"

"Nothing's happened. I'm just… worried about the decision I'll make on my birthday," I admitted. "I feel like I'm going to do something wrong, and… And make the wrong decision by accident. I've just been so troubled by it lately." I let out a breath of air, blowing some hair out of my eyes.

Her look softened a bit. "Honestly, Percy. Don't worry about it too much. You know that I'll always be there for you. Grover and Thalia, too," she added hastily.

"Yeah, I know," I said. We sat in silence, and I closed my eyes, absorbing the feeling of the slight burn that occurred whenever a snowflake landed on my face.

"Hello?" I opened my eyes again, just to meet Annabeth's piercing gray ones. She waved a hand in front of my face. "Anyone home in that empty head of yours?" Annabeth gathered up some snow and tossed it into my hair.

"Hey!" I protested, dusting off some snow from my head.

Annabeth laughed. "Come on, Seaweed Brain. We've got the Apollo kids to train. Let's go." She stood up and held out a hand. I pulled myself up, dusting snow off my jeans. She started to walk away, but I stopped her with my hand on her shoulder.

"Wait. I just wanted to thank you for trying to make me feel better," I said, thinking about what she had said earlier.

She seemed to know what I was talking about. "You're welcome, Seaweed Brain." She pulled her lips up into a light half-smile, and we walked back to the sword arena through the lightly falling snow, my hand lightly resting upon her shoulder.

**

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Oh, the pure essential joy of OOCness… I seriously hate you, OOCness. I made the characters way out of whack, I know (to me, anyways). Sometimes, I just make them OOC for the good of the story, by the way. I'm sorry this chapter was so short. I'll try and make the next one longer.

**A note: There will only be two more chapters, including the denouement (epilogue). Maybe three if I get the inspiration.**

**Please review! And if you have the time, read my other stories too and review for them!**


	10. New Year's Eve

**Possibly the last chapter (not including the sort-of-epilogue). Dun dun dun dun. Enjoy.**

**Happy super-belated-New Year's. (I really did start writing this too late; now all the major holidays fall behind. -_-) xD **

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Annabeth's POV:

"Annabeth? You ready yet?" I quickly shut my suitcase and zipped it closed.

"I'm coming! Jeez, Seaweed Brain. Be patient," I complained as I brushed through my tangled hair as best as I could. Percy entered the room, looking annoyed.

"Come on, Wise Girl. Hurry up," he urged. I glared at him, taking my time as I put on a headband. He rolled his eyes at me, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the door.

"I'll take however long I want," I said, starting to lug my suitcase out of my cabin. Percy uncrossed his arms and followed me up to Thalia's tree, tugging behind him his own various things. I set my things down and took one last long look between camp's vast perimeter, my back against the rough bark of the tree trunk.

"Ah, Annabeth, Percy," Chiron said as he met us at the hill. "You've been a tremendous help in training all the campers, and I'm very grateful for your service you have performed."

"You're welcome, Chiron," I said. I heard a car horn beep twice, and I whipped my head around to find Ms. Jackson's Civic parked at the base of the hill.

"You should go now, children. Goodbye, Percy, Annabeth, and may I wish you a happy New Year's Day, seeing as the new year will begin in approximately four hours," Chiron said, smiling. We exchanged hugs and left, bidding farewell to him as we walked down the hill.

"How was your stay at camp, kids?" asked Ms. Jackson after we had loaded the suitcases into the back trunk and slipped into the back seat once more.

"Fine. Short, but okay. Me and Annabeth–" Percy started.

"Annabeth and _I_," I corrected. Percy waved his hand around vaguely in the air.

"Whatever, Wise Girl. You're the smart one here. Anyways, we had to train the less experienced campers during the time span as a duty to Chiron," he said, scavenging through his suitcase for some snack.

"But overall, how was it?" Ms. Jackson asked.

"Pretty nice. No Ares kids, for once, they've all gone home or scouting. Same with Athena's," Percy said, finally managing to fish out a chocolate energy bar and tearing off the wrapper.

"How about you, Annabeth?" Ms. Jackson focused her gaze on me through the rearview mirror. I shrugged.

"It was cool, seeing Chiron and some of the campers again," I said. Percy's mother nodded once and we spent the rest of the car ride talking about what we were planning to do for the New Year's.

Ms. Jackson unlocked their apartment door, and we went in. "Jina, Dad, I'm back from camp," I said, just to notify my family sitting at the kitchen table. They nodded at me, and continued to talk about the issue of falling stocks and the failing economy.

"So, what do you want to do?" Percy asked, walking to his room. I followed him, since there was nothing else to do.

"I don't know," I said. "Are you doing any New Year's resolutions?" He snorted.

"Me? Resolutions? Huh. I don't think so," Percy said, finally collapsing down onto the very edge of his bed. I sat down on the other side.

"Why not? I have New Year's resolutions," I said.

"Oh yeah? Let's hear some of them," he prompted, lying back in a casual position on his bed sheets, crossing his leg over.

"Well, to start, I promise to make straight A's–"

"Figures. Easy enough for you," Percy cut in. I rolled my eyes.

"Are you sure you don't have _any _resolutions?" I asked skeptically. "Because, one of them seems to be annoying me to Hades." He grinned mischievously.

"Maybe. You never know," Percy said. "Though I've got to admit that that's a genius idea. Thanks."

"You Seaweed Brain!" I shoved him playfully, but he ended up falling to the floor with a crash. He cursed rather loudly, sitting up.

"Oh, real nice, Wise Girl," he said sarcastically, rubbing his head. I was doubling over in laughter, trying to futilely muster out an "are you okay?" but failing. Percy raised his eyebrows, and shoved me down onto the mattress.

"You… Your…" I gasped, a tear rolling down my cheek as I clutched my stomach. "Your… Face… So… So _hilarious_." I finally got out my words.

"Ha ha ha. Humor me," Percy said as I rolled around on his bed, gasping for breath. I could still the expression on his face as I had accidentally shoved him a little to hard. I finally attempted to steady my breathing and sit straight up; retaining the little amount of dignity I had left.

"Sorry about that. It was an accident, honest," I said, but a smile still broke through my deadpan look.

"Hmph. Whatever you say, o Wise One," he said, climbing back onto the bed. Percy half-smiled/smirked at me. I just bumped his shoulder lightly this time, in case the shove-and-fall scenario was to happen again.

"Percy!" Ms. Jackson called, peeking at us from behind the doorway.

"Yeah, Mom?" he replied.

"Could you come with me to meet Paul at his apartment for a sec?" she asked. It must've been really important if she was dragging Percy off to see her boyfriend at nine at night.

"But Mom, do I ha –"

"Yes, you have to," his mother said, shooting Percy a sharp look. "Now come on, this is really important." Percy gulped.

"Is this about – Are you going to…?" he asked, not fully drawing out his question.

"We'll have to tell him the truth about you before it's too late. I'm sorry, but we have to. If anything else happens, well…" she faltered. Percy groaned/sighed.

"Fine, I'll go," he said. "Look, Annabeth, I'll be right back. I… My mom and I are going to take care of some business. Do whatever you want." I nodded. He appeared to be studying me, then got off his bed and walked towards the doorway. Percy stopped and gripped the side of the door right when he was about to get out.

"A little note: One of those things can't be messing around in my room and rearranging my furniture. Got that?" he said, looking pointedly at the various places I had cleared his things to make more room for mine.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said, waving my hand in a sort of 'go on' motion and he left. As soon as he did, I quickly changed my clothes to my tank top and sweat pants and laid down on his bed, sighing as I brought my hands up under my head. This was boring. I sleepily tilted my head and froze.

The window's curtains had blown away a little from the breeze from the open window, and I spied a little silvery white leaf sprout through the gap. I slowly sat up and got off of Percy's bed to go investigate.

"What's this?" I muttered to myself as I pushed away the curtains entirely. A little plant was sprouting out of a tiny flowerpot. I bent over closer to examine it and inwardly gasped. Moonlace. The only way Percy could have gotten this was… Was on Ogygia.

I felt a tendril of coldness squeeze my heart, and I suddenly felt a slight bit of anger. Calypso, the seductress. She… She was the one who had caused Percy to stay on her island for two weeks, while I suffered, thinking that he had truly and honestly died.

I let out a few calming breaths and deeply breathed in and out. A little sane part of my mind still seemed to work, because I was reminded of a fact. He had left the paradise-like island and the beautiful Calypso for me. I looked down at my necklace and saw the little silver owl shining in the dim moonlight. I smiled down sadly at it and closed the curtains, going to sit back on Percy's bed.

I carefully thought a few things out, trying to make sense of the emotional tangle. Just as I was about to throw my hands down and give up, I felt another presence in my mind.

_Annabeth. Remember that day before Christmas?_ Ah, again with the conscience.

Yeah. I remember. Are you Annalise?

_Me? Annalise? Does Annalise talk like this?_

Well, no, actually. Who are you, then? And were you the one actually talking to me before I came to Percy's apartment?

_I am Anna-Marie. Annalise is your guardian angel and the other half of your conscience. I'm your spirit guide. Yes, I was the one talking to you. Pah, Annalise just likes taking the credit for herself._

Great. Again with the Anna. So, tell me, exactly how many more angels out there are out to go stalk me and nag me to Hades?

_Well, actually –_

No. Don't tell me. It's an infinite amount, isn't it?

_Not quite. Well, back to the topic. Remember what Annalise told you on that balcony?_

She said something about Mother Teresa and some other angel named Peter…

_No, no, Annabeth. Not that. The main reason she came to visit you._

I don't remember any mai – Oh gods. Not the stupid denial, right?

_Pfft. I must admit, for a flighty airhead, Annalise does know her stuff. She just won't use her brain. Yes, the denial._

But… It's true! We really just are friends.

_Hmph. Whatever you say. You'll find out soon enough._

Oh, wonderful. What's that supposed to mean?

_Ah, you'll see. I have to go now. Mustn't be late for the Christening of Desiree's little angel brother._

What? But I don't –

_Farewell, Annabeth. _I scowled.

Whatever. Bye.

I inwardly rolled my eyes as I felt that familiar disappearance of my little presence. Were angels seriously supposed to be so erratic? I hmphed and rested my back against the wall, looking back down at the little shimmering owl. I caught something with my eye and held it up to see it closer.

_Αγάπη φύκι εγκέφαλοσ_. I narrowed my eyes, trying to read it through my dyslexia. It wasn't Ancient Greek, so I couldn't read it without my dyslexia getting in the way. Darn Percy.

I admired the little trinket some more, turning it over and flipping it back up the way it was supposed to hang. Eventually, drowsiness won the battle between it and my mind, and I drifted into a dreamless sleep, still clutching the tiny owl.

***

"Annabeth, wake up." I shifted my shoulder and turned around, whacking my intruder before I rolled to face the other way. "Ow! Come on, Wise Girl, it's me. Wake up! Do you want to sleep through the last fifteen minutes until the New Year?"

"Go away," I said, pulling the covers over my head. "I'm sleeping." I got rewarded with a nice whack in the face with a pillow. I sat up, glaring at Percy, who was holding the pillow in the air as if he was about to slam it down again.

"Well?" He raised his eyebrow. "You going to come with me or not?"

"Fine, Seaweed Brain. Gods, you are so annoying," I grumbled as I grabbed my blanket and followed behind him into the living room.

"Well, what can I say? I got Sleeping Beauty to finally awake. I just can't believe that you still look like a fifteen-year old after all these years," Percy said, sitting on the couch and making room for me to sit down next to him.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," I said, grabbing his pillow and throwing it onto his face. Ha. Payback time.

"Mmft!" he said, his voice muffled by the pillow. "Remember, children, no violence at the Jackson Resort," he fake-chided, waggling his finger at me. I grinned and pushed him away. He was about to go slam his pillow at me when I remembered something all of a sudden.

"Hey, Percy?" I asked.

"Yeah?" Percy replied, dropping his arms.

"Um, what is this supposed to say?" I motioned for him to get closer and I showed him the Greek letters on the other side of the charm. He looked at me to see whether I honestly wanted to know or not, which caused us to lock eyes and just turn away from each other again.

"Nothing important. Nothing you need to know, Wise Girl," Percy muttered, looking away from me and mumbling something inaudible. I scowled in annoyance.

"Honestly, what is it?" I brought my face around to force him to look at me. He didn't say anything, just looking blankly at the TV screen and turning it on with a press of a button on a remote he grabbed.

"I'm here reporting live at Times Square in New York City, where all the excitement's happening. There's only ten minutes until the ball drops. Everyone is making last minute calls to relatives to wish them a happy New Year, which reminds me, happy New Year to all you viewers out there!" The reporter announced with a face flushed with excitement.

I shook Percy's shoulder to get his attention. He looked at me and said, "What?"

"Aren't you excited?" I asked, looking at his expressionless face.

"No. Should I be, with the prophecy happening this year?" he asked.

"Don't be so pessimistic. Come on, it's the last… seven minutes! At least enjoy the time you have right now," I said, watching as people waved at the camera on TV so the whole world could see.

"I guess. But honestly, you don't have this super-gigantic-devastatingly-killer prophecy to worry about," Percy said, sighing.

"Are you implying that you're going to die?" I inquired, pulling my feet up onto the couch.

"Maybe, maybe not. Who knows, except for the Fates? I'm just… I don't know whether or not I'll make the right decision, whether I'll fail or not. I'm not as worried about that as much as the fact that I'll let everyone who trusts me, who put their belief in me down," he said. Percy closed his eyes as I let this sink in.

"You'll make the right decision, I'm sure of it. I… I trust you not to let me down. I know that you're not like Luke. That you won't betray me, and hurt me like he did," I said, letting a lone teardrop fall at the memories that he, Thalia, and I had shared. Percy looked slightly shocked.

"You seriously believe in me that much?" he asked a bit astonishingly.

"Of course I do, you Seaweed Brain," I said, grinning despite my nostalgia. "Why wouldn't I?" He slowly smiled at me, looking like that Percy from months ago.

"Thanks, Wise Girl. I won't let you down, or hurt you. I promise that. Hurting you… Or any of my friends and family would pain me more," he said, looking at me. "In fact, Athena herself once told me that my fatal flaw was personal loyalty."

"Athena? Was she telling you that during the Olympian party?" So that's what she'd been saying before I interrupted.

"Yeah. She said something else, too, but…" Percy fixed his gaze on the TV, watching the crowd count down the last few minutes.

"You can tell me, right? I mean, you don't have to," I said uncomfortably. He didn't answer immediately, probably thinking.

"She said that she didn't approve of your… _relationship_ with me." He looked at my expression, waiting for my response. I blinked.

"Well, it didn't stop us from staying friends, did it?" I said with my eyebrows raised. "Honestly, Percy, don't worry about it too much." He nodded plainly.

"The thing is… I think – I think by relationship she meant… Well, she acted like it was more than just friendship," he said. I bit my lip, thinking.

"I – Well, uh… She might be wrong? Or maybe you took it the wrong way…?" I suggested a bit meekly. Percy shook his head hesitantly.

"No, I don't think the goddess Athena is ever wrong. I don't think I got it wrong, either. She said it in that tone very clearly and obviously," he said, face still expressionless, though his cheeks were rapidly growing redder.

"Oh," I said stupidly, face also burning. "In that case, then, um… I think I just might have to agree with her." My voice was barely audible by then; even I could just barely make out the words. Oh my gods. Percy swiveled around to look at me.

"You're my best friend, you know," he said quietly. I nodded, looking down. "And nothing will ever change that fact, or – the fact that I love you," he whispered, and met his eyes with mine, leaning towards me. We stared at each other for a long time, not doing anything.

"I love you too, Percy," I breathed. I let my heart win this one time and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer and letting our lips meet. There was much more emotion behind this kiss than the ones from Mt. St. Helens and under the mistletoe on Christmas. We didn't pull away for several minutes.

"The crowd is going absolutely crazy now, waiting for the ball to drop in these last seconds while I'm speaking. Only ten seconds now! 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" The people in Times Square went wild, shouting and wishing everyone else a happy New Year.

Percy pulled away from me for a few seconds. "Happy New Year, Wise Girl," he said, grinning.

"You too, Seaweed Brain," I replied, entangling my hands into his jet-black hair as I pulled myself back into his arms. I smiled. No one, not even Calypso with her stupid moonlace, was going to ruin this perfect moment for us.

Third Person's POV:

A hazy figure appeared on the balcony, blending into the night and completely unseen by the couple indoors.

"Oh yeah. One more goal down, about seventy-eight thousand, four hundred ninety three more to go. Whoo-ee," said the figure. They adjusted the glowing ring above their head and smiled as the two gradually fell asleep in each other's arms.

"A bit mistaken, aren't we, Annalise?" Another shadowy, but still radiating light figure joined the first.

"Still talking in that old-fashioned dialogue, Anna-Marie?" the first figure said, sighing. "That's so… Not right. Everyone's talking all modern and New-Agey these days."

"Not so," argued Anna-Marie, dressed in the traditional white robe that all angels-in-training were supposed to wear. She turned back to the window. "They're just meant for each other, aren't they?"

"You got that right, my dear friend Mah-rie. I suppose the old knucklehead does mean well, even if he's all barking down our backsides," Annalise admitted, waving her hand in the air. A black leather jacket appeared and she pulled it on gratefully.

"Who, Minister John? Yes, he is a trite bit grouchy at times. He doesn't seem the type to care about teenage relationships," Anna-Marie said, surprised.

"Very well put, Anna, though grouchy is a total understatement," Annalise said. The two angels watched the stars twinkle and pointed out constellations.

"Oh, fair Anna-Marie, when art Peter –"

"Annalise, Annalise. That was a terrible impression. You and that Peter," Anna-Marie scolded, rolling her eyes to the balcony roof.

"Yes, dreamy, isn't he? Okay, back to why I called you here," Annalise said.

"More advice from me?"

"Yes, of course, even though your beauty tips are horrible. Last time you told me how to curl my hair, it left it all wavy and catastrophic. Ugh!" Annalise complained. Anna-Marie shrugged.

"It isn't my fault that I have naturally curly hair," she said, running her fingers through her honey-blond curls.

"Whatever. This time, I want to ask how you can keep that halo on your head. Mine keeps on – Hey! Get back here!" She jumped up just in time to grab the golden halo just before it darted off back to the sky. Anna-Marie just looked amused.

"Poor you. I don't know how you treated that thing," she teased gently.

"Hey, don't look at me! The worst thing I could've possibly done is drop it in the puddle in front of the school building and have everyone think I was a devil in disguise!" Annalise protested.

"Well, it could've rusted," Anna-Marie said, examining her nails and watching in pure amusement as Annalise rubbed her halo off, frantically trying to cover up the dark blotches. "Annalise, Annalise, Annalise."

Annalise retorted back a very non-original comeback and the two started bickering very un-angelically. Percy and Annabeth didn't hear anything, though, because the couple were already blissfully asleep in each other's arms.

**

* * *

**

Okay, seventy percent chance I'll do another chapter before the sort of denouement, because I still have a few ideas. Writing something as mushy as this… Well, I'm not the mushy-romantic type of person, so I have to admit that I wasn't really comfortable writing all this fluff out. Percy and Annabeth were OOC, sorry.

**One thing, though (please read, very important, sort of):**

**I will probably be changing my penname on Fanfiction to something else, once I think of the name. I'll let you know in the next chapter.**

**Other than that, nothing else. Review please!**


	11. Farewell

**Last chapter (not including the Valentine's Day thing)! Wow, I can't believe I actually got this far. ._.' **

**This will be extremely short, so… Yeah. **

* * *

Percy's POV:

What was taking her so long? Ugh. I know she didn't exactly want to leave and go back to her apartment, but… I shook my head and poked my head into the doorway of my room.

"You need help packing up?" I asked Annabeth, who was digging through some suitcase. She turned around and saw me.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm almost done," she said, throwing in a few more things and zipping it shut.

"Okay then." I sat down on my bed next to her suitcase and smiled at her. She glanced at me and smiled back.

"What're you doing?" she asked, looking at my expression. I shrugged.

"Just thinking," I replied indifferently.

"Oh," she said simply, sitting by me on the opposite side of her things. "I'm going to miss you, you know, even if we can still IM and call and we'll see each other in school in two days."

"Yeah, me too. I've almost gotten used to you living right next to me," I said, grinning. Annabeth turned to face me and tousled my hair in a friendly way, messing it even more. Suddenly, she turned serious, remembering something.

"Percy? Can I ask you something?" she said, sounding a little anxious.

"Yeah? What is it, Annabeth?" I asked. She looked troubled, as if this was on her mind for a long time.

"Well, I saw the moonlace –" I stiffened. "And, uh, I just wanted to know whether you still had any… leftover feelings for Calypso?" she mumbled. I thought things through, thinking of what had happened in the past days.

"She… Calypso is more than just a friend –" Annabeth's brow furrowed and I continued, "But she's like a cousin, or even a sister. I don't like her any more than that."

"Then what about the moonlace?" Annabeth inquired.

"The moonlace is just trivial decoration given to me by a sisterly friend of mine that I'll probably never see again. No, scratch that. I never _will _see her again," I said breezily. Her brow relaxed.

"Good, because, well, you know…" she said.

"Yeah. I got it," I interrupted. None of us felt comfortable talking about our relationship now, even if what other people were saying was true. Annabeth nodded, relieved.

"Uh, Luke was pretty similar to me. I mean, he's a figure I see as a brother," she said, though she looked somewhat uncertain. Then her face cleared and she seemed to be confident about her statement.

"That's good, because, uh, you know," I said, almost repeating what she had said earlier.

"That. I know," she said, smiling. "Hey, um, I found this. Here." Annabeth handed me a picture that she took from under a fold of my bed's comforter. I studied it carefully and flushed in embarrassment. It was the picture that my mom had taken on the balcony on Christmas. I chuckled uncertainly.

"My mom's right, I guess it does bring back some good memories," I said. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards in a half smile.

"Yeah, it does," she said, laughing a little.

"Here, keep it," I said, giving her the photo back.

"What? I thought your mom might want it –"

"Nah, she can just print it out again," I said nonchalantly. "It doesn't matter. Just take the picture, Annabeth." She looked at me, and then stuffed the photo inside her suitcase.

"Annabeth? Are you ready yet?" Dr. Chase appeared at the doorway.

"I'm coming, Dad. Would you mind going with me…?" she asked me.

"Sure, I'll send you off," I said. "Here, let me get that." I held out a hand and took her suitcase for her.

"Thanks," she said, slipping her hand into my free one. We walked out together with the rest of Annabeth's family after they bid their farewells to my mother. Annabeth and I kind of lagged behind while the rest of her family strode ahead.

"Gods, it's still so cold," she commented as we stepped out into the chill winds slapping at our cheeks. I nodded wordlessly and pulled her in closer to me, but not so much. Annabeth still was the same tough person I knew; she could last through a blizzard for a few minutes for now.

We didn't follow Dr. Chase to their silver Volvo; instead, we started towards the side parking lot where my car was parked for some privacy.

"I guess you have to go now," I said, trying to sound as plain as possible. I leaned against one of my car doors, looking straight into Annabeth's stormy eyes.

"Yeah," she replied in that same tone. We stood there for awhile in silence except for the whistling winds blowing around our clothes and hair.

"So, what, no hug for me or anything?" I joked, trying to lighten up the dreary atmosphere a little.

"Nah, of course not, stupid," Annabeth teased back. She shifted closer to me, tilted her head a little, and kissed me full on the lips briefly, but it was still sweet. I inched back a little once it was over, trying not to make the ambiance too uncomfortable.

"By the way, you never did tell me why you liked emeralds," I said. She looked down, but then turned her head back up, looking at me directly.

"It's because of your eyes," she said in a softer tone. I blinked.

"My eyes?" I said, a little shocked.

"Yeah," she said. "They're so… I can't really explain it, but they're a lot more unique then mine."

"Really? Then you've never seen yourself properly in the mirror, Annabeth," I said. She turned a little pink from the compliment but the blush quickly faded.

"Percy, can I ask so something, um, kind of personal?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"When did you start to like me?" she questioned. I felt my cheeks burn a little as I tried to recall that first time when I had started to feel different around her.

"I guess that summer after we recovered the Fleece," I answered truthfully.

"Actually, it's the same for me," she said. "I guess we had like, spent so much time together that… We eventually started to…"

"Like each other?" I finished. Annabeth nodded, tightening her grip around my arm. She sighed. "Darn Aphrodite for putting me through so much emotional uncertainty." I smirked.

"Yeah, take it out on an immensely powerful, godly figure," I remarked sarcastically. Annabeth smiled.

"Well, at least I have you to thank for," she said. I silently agreed.

"Do you think that it was Aphrodite who brought us together or our own personal instincts?" I inquired.

"Both," she said. "But she interfered into our personal lives a little more than too many times for my comfort."

"True," I said, thinking about Ogygia, Mt. St. Helens, how she had brought Rachel into my life, our cancelled first 'date'. "Uh, I guess you have to go," I finally said.

"Yeah, so, uh, I'll see you at school on Monday," she said, hugging me quickly and turning around to run back to her dad's car after we exchanged goodbyes.

I watched her sprint through the frosted pavement, golden locks shining in the sun and streaming behind her. I smiled a little and turned back to the apartment door, where my mom was waiting with a huge smile plastered onto her face.

I groaned. Oh dear gods, help me.

* * *

Annabeth's POV:

**(Since it was a little short, I decided to do her POV too)**

_What's this_? I picked up a white rectangular sheet of some type of shiny, thick paper. No wait, not paper. It was a photo. I flipped it over and immediately blushed.

It was the picture Percy's mom took of us on that humiliating Christmas day. How embarrassing. Both of our cheeks were flushed red and our hair was dusted with a fine layer of crystal snow. I still recalled how my heart had thumped out uneven beats for an entire hour after the incident.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps. I quickly shoved the picture anywhere that would fit (which happened to be under Percy's bed's comforter) and pretended to be busy with my suitcase. I heard the sound of the door swing open and someone step into the room.

"You need help packing up?" I turned around and saw Percy, standing there in his messy, raven-haired glory.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm almost done," I replied, tossing in a few more things and zipping it shut.

"Okay then." He came over sat down on his bed next to my suitcase, a vague smile playing at his lips. I glanced at him and smiled back.

"What're you doing?" I asked, looking at Percy's expression. He shrugged.

"Just thinking," he replied indifferently.

"Oh," I said plainly, sitting by him on the opposite side of my suitcase. "I'm going to miss you, you know, even if we can still IM and call and we'll see each other in school in two days."

"Yeah, me too. I've almost gotten used to you living right next to me," he said, grinning mischievously. I turned to face him and mussed up his hair in a friendly way, making it more disheveled then ever. Suddenly, I turned serious, remembering something.

"Percy? Can I ask you something?" I asked apprehensively.

"Yeah? What is it, Annabeth?" he asked. Memories flashed back through my mind. The moonlace in the window. The affectionate way he said Calypso. The way he blushed when I asked him where he was those agonizing two weeks.

"Well, I saw the moonlace –" Percy froze. "And, uh, I just wanted to know whether you still had any… leftover feelings for Calypso?" I muttered. His eyes narrowed just the slightest bit, and he appeared to be concentrating on something.

"She… Calypso is more than just a friend –" he started. My eyebrows drew together a little and my heart sank. "But she's like a cousin, or even a sister. I don't like her any more than that."

"Then what about the moonlace?" I inquired.

"The moonlace is just trivial decoration given to me by a sisterly friend of mine that I'll probably never see again. No, scratch that. I never _will _see her again," Percy said confidently. I inwardly sighed, relieved.

"Good, because, well, you know…" I said.

"Yeah. I got it," he interrupted. I quickly nodded to clear up the air.

"Uh, Luke was pretty similar to me. I mean, he's a figure I see as a brother," I said, figuring that if Percy was going to admit the truth, I might as well do so too. But was I really willing to let go of Luke, the guy that I had admired for the past eight years? I guess my face showed my confidence, because all lovey-dovey feelings for him sort of washed away.

"That's good, because, uh, you know," he said, almost repeating what I had said earlier.

"That. I know," I said, smiling. Something hit me (non-literally), and I remembered something. The picture. "Hey, um, I found this. Here." I recovered it from under the folds of the covers and handed him the picture. He examined it and his cheeks turned red. He chuckled.

"My mom's right, I guess it does bring back some good memories," he said. I managed a half-smile.

"Yeah, it does," I agreed, letting out a bit of laughter.

"Here, keep it," he said suddenly, handing me the photo back. What? But…

"What? I thought your mom might want it –"

"Nah, she can just print it out again," he said coolly. "It doesn't matter. Just take the picture, Annabeth." I glanced at him and then stuffed the photo inside my suitcase.

"Annabeth? Are you ready yet?" My dad appeared at the doorway.

"I'm coming, Dad. Would you mind going with me…?" I asked Percy.

"Sure, I'll send you off," he answered. "Here, let me get that." He held out his hand and took my suitcase from my bed.

"Thanks," I said, clasping my hand with his. My family said their goodbyes to Percy's mom and we went outside the door. Percy and I walked slowly and leisurely, taking our time.

"Gods, it's still so cold," I said as we walked out into the freezing morning air. His arm pulled me in closer to him and I smiled gratefully.

Percy led us to a spot next to his car, far from where my dad's car was parked.

"I guess you have to go now," he said, expressing no feelings. He rested his back against the car door and looked me in the eyes.

"Yeah," I said, also in that toneless manner. We stood there for a minute at least, not saying anything.

"So, what, no hug for me or anything?" Percy teased playfully. I smiled. Typical of him to joke around when he felt uncomfortable.

"Nah, of course not, stupid," I said. I leaned in, my hand lightly resting against his hair. I brushed my lips over his briefly so that he didn't have enough time to respond. Afterwards, Percy took a step away from me so we didn't feel so awkward.

"By the way, you never did tell me why you liked emeralds," he said. Pfft. Typical Seaweed Brain, not knowing anything. I turned my stare down only to roll my eyes and then looked up at him directly, gazing into those emerald green irises tinted with the slightest hue of blue for the possibly last time in three days.

"It's because of your eyes," I said. Percy blinked, looking a little shocked.

"My eyes?" he said. I almost rolled my eyes at him again.

"Yeah," I said, almost wistfully. "They're so… I can't really explain it, but they're a lot more unique then mine."

"Really? Then you've never seen yourself properly in the mirror, Annabeth," he said. Huh. He seems a lot braver now than he was before when it came to my appearance. A blush rose up to color my face again, but I cooled my emotions down and it was gone again.

"Percy, can I ask so something, um, kind of personal?" I asked. Well, why not, since we're already having all this emotional talk here.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"When did you start to like me?" I questioned. Percy's face turned a nice scarlet color after I asked him that, but I'm pretty sure it was me who looked like I was the tomato.

"I guess that summer after we recovered the Fleece," he said after some thought.

"Actually, it's the same for me," I said. "I guess we had like, spent so much time together that… We eventually started to…"

"Like each other?" he finished. I nodded and held onto Percy's arm more tightly.

"Darn Aphrodite for putting me through so much emotional uncertainty," I said and he smirked.

"Yeah, take it out on an immensely powerful, godly figure," he stated sarcastically. I couldn't help but smile.

"Well, at least I have you to thank for," I said. Yeah, now I have a Seaweed Brain as a boyfriend. Well, I have to admit, a brave, kind, selfless, and rather good-looking Seaweed Brain.

"Do you think that it was Aphrodite who brought us together or our own personal instincts?" Percy questioned.

"Both," I answered. "But she interfered into our personal lives a little more than too many times for my comfort."

"True," he said, and his eyes looked lost, thinking or having flashbacks into the past. "Uh, I guess you have to go," he finally said after his little train of thought ended.

"Yeah, so, uh, I'll see you at school on Monday," I said, hurriedly throwing my arms around him and turning around to run back to my dad's car after we said our goodbyes.

As I sprinted through the thin sheet of icy frost covering the ground, I felt the heat of Percy's stare on my back, but I could feel him tear his eyes away and focus on something else behind him. I peeked over my shoulder and saw Percy's mom, standing there and grinning like crazy. She must have seen the whole thing. I smirked.

I lifted up my necklace to see my tiny owl charm (I really seemed to love that thing). A little snowflake fell down from my hair and landed on the back of the charm, specifically on the Greek letters. The snow melted into water, and then the words all became clear.

_Love, Seaweed Brain. _I smiled. How sweet. I waved at him right before he was about to face his somehow terrifying mother. He grinned at me in that way of his, with his lips pulling up more on one side which gave him a mischievous appearance.

I sighed happily and closed my eyes, actually enjoying the feeling of the snow on my face and the shrill winds blowing around me.

"Annabeth, we're going now," Jina called out. I yelled back a reply and ran through the pavement, opening up the car door and sitting down on the soft seat. This was officially the most perfect winter break I ever had, blizzard or no blizzard. As long as I had Percy by my side, everyday was technically perfect. That is, if he doesn't mess everything up in that way of his.

I leaned my arm against the car window and watched the snow rain down onto the road, twinkling in the pale winter sun as sheets upon sheets of ice and hail struck the ground in this winter blizzard.

_Fin._

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Okay, that is the end. The epilogue is just a look into the future. Sort of. If you count a month and twelve days. Sucky ending, I know, but hey, you still enjoyed the rest of the story while you could.

**Sorry for not updating sooner, I'm extremely busy (it's 10:35 right now and I still have three huge project thingies to finish by TOMORROW). Plus, I think I'm coming down with a cold. My internet is annoying me to HADES (I would say the real thing, but I don't cuss. Well, uh, not on purpose ^_^" ). And I have to fix it myself. -.-' The past two and a half weeks were literally the worst times of moi life. Excepting a few things.**

**Review. Please. I'm not going to beg you today, but reviews make me happier and they'll lift me out of this gloomy life for like, two seconds. So review! :P**

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**A/N two years later (I wrote this fic in 2008-2009 and it's now 2011... I wonder where the time went... Does anybody know what time it is (and does anybody care? kudos to anyone who got the really bad old song reference. I love that song, btw. Muchas gracias, merci beaucoup, and arigatōgōzaimasu to my amazing dyslexic English teacher who speaks like four diff. languages who introduced it to me this year.)) - So yeah. Here I am, two years later. God, my writing was really... bad before. Like, ugh, I can't even describe how many times I cringed reading this. At any rate, thanks for the almost 1,500 hits for this story and the crapload of comments that it spawned (even though a large percentage of them were rather... unintelligent, :) but I digress). So anyway, before I start randomly spewing insults about how this story was an absolute abomination and how the people who actually enjoyed the bland style of writing and the cliché plot must be absolutely ma– ...Nope, nope. JK. Really. (speaking of the letters "j" and "k", 'twas JFK's birthday yesterday. And my mother's. But again, I digress) So yeah, guise, as much love as you all showered me with and everything, unfortunately, this horror of a story does not deserve any sort of praise, even the mindless, unintelligent, fangirl-y praise that was a result of the love showers. (Not that I'm calling every single reader here unintelligent. Because truthfully, not everyone is. I'm just a very, very, _very _cynical person, yes?)**

**Yeah, just thought I'd throw this out there. And for the kind people out there were remain unfazed by my implied insults and believe that I'm only trying to degrade myself and everything out of humility and modesty, no. I honestly believe that this story is horrible (pretty decent for a sixth grader... but it doesn't quite fit in with my current standards), especially after taking more advanced writing and English classes. Anyway, thanks for reading all of that (if you actually bothered to read it) and I apoligize for my horrible attitude and current personality. Life does that to you; can't live inside a bubble forever. As much as I insulted all of you up there in that paragraph above (sorry, it's my personality, I swear), I would like to thank all of you for your comments and subscriptions and blah blah blah. (eww, Ke$ha) So yeah, I'm not longer a part of the PJaTO fandom and I'm gravitating more towards anime (like Hetalia. It's cracktastically awesome) for possible future fanfiction. And, uh, also, I've kinda been pulled into the world of BL by one of my fellow friends here on fanfiction. Just saying. So if you subscribe for something you didn't mean to subscribe for, hey, don't blame me. You saw how old this fic was. People change.**

**AND TO THOSE WHO SKIPPED THIS WHOLE A/N-slash-RANT, IMMA HUNT YOU DOWN AND– naw, JK. But srsly though, it's not like there's much harm in reading it (besides the fact that it wastes about 10 min. of your life and might possibly change your views about me to something more... yeah. MOVING ON).**

**So yeah. Comment plox. Just kidding. Read all that above this sentence first.**


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